When Bedfordshire County Council’s Legal Group looked at how they could further improve the services they offered to clients, they undertook a review of their processes and procedures set out in the Office Manual, and discovered that some needed updating.
Before undertaking this task, the Legal Group took the opportunity to explore the Lexcel quality mark, the Law Society’s Practice Management Standard. Val Muggeridge, Office Manager from the Legal Group explained, “We decided to go for Lexcel accreditation because a lot of other Local Authorities and external solicitors had already achieved it and it was a way of improving the service we offered to clients. Our Office Manual which contains all our procedures needed updating, and as Lexcel covers 8 areas - Structure and Policies Strategy, the provision of services and marketing; Financial Management; Facilities and IT; People Management; Supervision and Operational Risk Management; Client Care and File and Case Management, it was the ideal way to look at all our working practices and review them.”
The Legal Group worked together with The Assessment Network, an accredited national Lexcel centre and the recognised partner for Investors in People (IIP) for the East of England. They introduced them to a Lexcel consultant, who gave presentations to staff in the run up to the assessment on the Lexcel process, in particular file management, and also prepared them for the assessment process. They were also introduced to a Lexcel Assessor, who was able to encourage the staff to understand that the emphasis was on improving working practices gradually, which made the whole process less frightening for them.
The Lexcel Assessor identified 11 areas of good practice already in place and made suggestions of 15 areas where the Legal Group could bring in improvements. Procedures that were already working well were retained, and new procedures were taken on, in accordance with the Lexcel standard. Files now have more checklists and file status sheets and new procedures have been brought in for areas that needed some improvement.
The Lexcel Assessor said of the new manual, “The Office Manual is clearly written, simple to navigate and linked to the Lexcel standard. It has now been filed electronically on the Intranet and hyperlinks are used to cross reference to internal departments such as Human Resources, and also to external web sites such as the Law Society.
The Legal Group achieved Lexcel accreditation in January 2007. News of the success of the Legal Group was welcomed by the Council’s Leader and by senior officers, and they were also commended at a recent meeting of the Council.
Val Muggeridge concluded, “ We achieved the accreditation in a very tight timescale with only one minor non compliance, which was dealt with during the Assessment. We began work around February 2006 and the assessment took place in early December 2006. Achieving Lexcel was our contribution to transforming Central Services in the Council. “
The Lexcel Assessor added, “It was a pleasure to assess this department. Now the challenge for the entire team is to maintain the good work and to seek further improvements.”
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Date: May 2007
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