24 September 2004 - Publication of DWP research report Customer Experience of Direct Payment
Research published today by the Department for Work and Pensions presents findings from a survey of customers’ experiences of, and satisfaction with, Direct Payment. The research was conducted with Working Age, Pensioner and Disability and Carers customers who had recently started receiving their benefit entitlements by Direct Payment. The research was conducted by IFF Research.
The aim of the research was to measure the level of customer satisfaction with the Direct Payment process and to identify what, if any, improvements to the process might be made.
The main findings are:
Levels of satisfaction
- Satisfaction amongst those who have recently started receiving their benefit entitlements by Direct Payment was very high.
- 91 per cent were satisfied with the process of arranging to have their benefit paid into their account.
- 93 per cent were satisfied with the process of having payments paid into their account.
- Customers in the working age group were the most positive about the new system and pensioners the least, although the differences were not substantial.
- 93 per cent of customers in the working age group were satisfied or very satisfied with the process of setting up Direct Payments compared with 89 per cent of pensioners.
- However differences between the sub groups did emerge when looking at the percentage of those stating that they were very satisfied compared with who were fairly satisfied.
- Older Pensioners were less likely to state that they were very satisfied than those aged 74 or under (55 per cent were very satisfied compared with 64 per cent in the younger age group).
Comparison with previous system of receiving benefit
- Among the people in the survey who received benefit entitlement under the old system of order books or giro cheques, most (86 per cent), felt Direct Payment was better (58 per cent) or the same (28 per cent). However 13 per cent felt that the new system was worse.
- The main benefits of Direct Payment were that it was seen to be more convenient (29 per cent), that it meant that there was no need to visit the Post Office and that it meant that it was not necessary to withdraw all of a benefit payment at once (both 12 per cent). One in ten stated that they felt Direct Payment was more secure.
- The reasons provided by the 13 per cent of customers who felt that Direct Payment was a worse method of receiving benefit payments were inconvenience (20 per cent), harder to keep track of payments coming in (17 per cent), a general preference for the old system / a dislike of change (17 per cent) and difficulties with the PINs (13 per cent).
Problems encountered - A small proportion of customers believed that they had received at least one payment later than when expected (eight per cent) and only three percent of customers believed they had received a payment for the wrong amount.
Notes for editors
- “Customer experience of Direct Payment” by Lorna Adams, Karen Bunt and Danielle Bright DWP In house report 150 is published on 24th September 2004. A summary and copy of the report are available on the DWP website at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5
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