Background

Hazell Carr was approached by a large Retail Bank for assistance with Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) complaints.  Their need was driven by high volumes of new complaints, which had exposed deep-rooted issues with the Bank’s operation:  

• Resource – The Bank had supplemented in-house teams with temporary staff from local agencies.  It became clear that this resource lacked the expertise to hit the Bank’s performance targets.
• Procedural Changes – The Bank had implemented judgement based procedures in line with Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) principles.  While this was an essential regulatory step, it caused problems for the in-house team, as they lacked the ability to effectively apply these procedures.
• Case Handoffs – Teams across the UK were taking responsibility at different stages of the complaint.  These hand-offs were slowing down processing times, complicating case tracking and leading to confusion over case ownership.
• Management Information – Our client did not possess accurate Management Information (MI) and was struggling to understand the complaint population.  The Bank could not establish the age and type of cases effectively making it difficult for them to respond to problems efficiently.  

These factors meant our client was struggling to cope with incoming volumes and a backlog of cases had developed.  

Our Solution

The Bank consulted Hazell Carr regarding potential solutions, relating to both the immediate need to process complaints, as well as the long-term requirement to improve operational efficiency.  Key features of our solution included:  

• Technical Expertise – We provided a small team of complaint handling experts to target the backlog.  All members of the team were experienced with judgement based decision making and had previously worked on a wide range of review projects, including PPI.  Our team immediately met internal quality and productivity targets and quickly started to outperform the in-house team.
• Process Streamlining – Hazell Carr implemented whole process complaint handling, so that individual complaint handlers processed entire cases, from initial complaint through to final resolution.  This approach significantly improved the process, accelerated closure times and improved the quality of decisions and calculations.
• Centralised Operations – Hazell Carr helped the Bank centralise PPI complaint handling, so that the majority of cases were dealt with on one site.  Through processing all cases on this site it became easier for our client to monitor the project and respond rapidly to issues as and when they arose.
• Management Information Tools – We developed a new MI suite, which provided the Bank with more accurate case metrics.  These tools enabled us to monitor cases more effectively, target specific case populations and identify process bottlenecks.
• Process Review – We initiated a process review exercise to minimise the risk of further complaints developing.  This review provided feedback at all stages of the product lifecycle, from product development through to complaint handling.