Accessible Communication Project

What is it?

We are trying to make the way we keep in touch with all our customers better. The Accessible communications project will help us to do this, especially with our customers who have special requirements.

This means we are doing lots of different things.

We will make sure that:

• the way we write

• our web site

• the way we talk to you face-to-face and on the telephone

works well for all our customers.

We are trying to make the information we give you easy to read and clearer to understand. Particularly for people with sight or hearing loss, learning disabilities or difficulties, customers who do not speak English as their first language and customers who have problems reading. We also want our information to be better for older people and for children and young people.

Several council teams, along with Choices (an independent voluntary sector project that involves and represents local people with learning disabilities) are working on the project. We also ask advice from other council departments and voluntary groups that work with people whose first language is not English, disabled people and older people.

Why do we have a special project for this?

When we talked to people about the things that matter most to them (we asked the public about our equality schemes) they said that one of the main problems was the way we communicate with our customers.

Local residents, voluntary groups, as well as our own staff said we could do more to make our information easy to understand by people with different needs.

We want to improve and know this is important because:

• Our customers have told us that clear, easy to understand information is important

• It’s good customer care

• It’s fair

• It’s the law
  

What is happening so far?

• We have paid for Choices to develop a group of local people with learning difficulties to train council workers. This will help them understand communication problems. The first part of this training has just finished and those who have been say it is really useful.

• Choices have set up a panel, made up of their service users, to test out our information and give us feedback. So far, this expert panel has looked at our website and has given us some good ideas on how we can improve it. Soon they will be doing some ‘mystery shopping’ at council receptions to check out what it is like for customers talking to us face-to-face.

• Choices have also started to make a collection of photographs of the city that can be used to make future information easier to understand.

• We have written new information for staff about accessible communication. This includes a step-by-step guide to using interpreters, translations and providing information in other formats. We have also given staff clear rules on what is expected of them, to make sure they meet the needs of all our customers.

• We have new information for the public too. It tells you how to ask us for information in the format you need and an easy step-by-step guide to getting an interpreter. You will soon be able to find it on the website and at council and community outlets in a range of formats.

• We have taken a close look at our website – Southampton Online – and have made it even easier to use and to give you more information about accessibility.

• We are going to hold special sessions for staff who have contact with the public. These sessions will tell them how to make communication better and easier for the customer.

• We have put sections in all our customer care training to explain the importance of communicating in an accessible way.

• Soon we are going to test a scheme in Children’s Services that will look at ways of making information not only easier to read and understand but also more relevant to all our different customers.

For more information on this project call us on 023 8083 3445 or email communities.equalities@southampton.gov.uk.