What our users think
“The centre has all the equipment we need to print training and publicity documents for the mediation service. The supportive and encouraging workers have empowered me to become confident in using the equipment myself and to learn new and more effective ways to present and publish information.”
Brighton and Hove Independent Mediation Service
Feedback from users is vitally important to us. It is how we know whether we are doing a good job, whether our services are meeting our aims and what we need to change. We actively seek feedback in all our work and here we look at:
What users tell us in our survey
How priority groups evaluate our support to them
Our own survey
Every two years we ask every group who uses us over a four week period about their experience with us. We last did this in June and July 2018.
The full results of the survey were overwhelmingly positive. We had a high response rate (55%) and satisfaction with services was extremely high. Over 90% were very satisfied with most services.
Figures show we are also reaching small grass roots groups and groups who get no help elsewhere. The vast majority (85%) of user groups are run by volunteers, 88% have not received a grant from Brighton and Hove City Council and for two thirds of groups we are the only agency from which they get support.
Because the responses are so positive we ask groups whether there is anything they would change about the centre. We get a scattering of suggestions here – a bigger building, a Hove branch, more art on walls – but the two main issues raised are opening hours and parking. Of these parking is by far the biggest issue for groups with 24% mentioning it. We are attempting to respond to both of these.
“Without the support of the experienced staff we would not have been able to reach the stage we are at now. We received support prior to setting up the group in writing the constitution,helping us with applications for funding and we also receive ongoing support, advice and information.”
Sussex Syrian Community Group
On opening hours we recently looked in detail at whether we could extend these without more staff – essentially spread existing staff more thinly – but concluded it wasn’t possible. We did however decide to change the day on which we are closed for maintenance of equipment from Monday to Wednesday. This was a change suggested by several people and allows groups to bring equipment back earlier after weekend events.
On parking we have contacted the Council’s Parking Infrastructure Team to ask for a loading bay. Their next city-wide consultation is in May and June 2019 and we will be putting our case to them then.
Feedback from our priority groups
Each time we carry out a piece of intensive support work for one of our priority groups, we ask for feedback and comments. In 2017-18, we did 84 examinations of accounts and 367 support sessions for our priority groups.
Examinations of accounts
“Thank you so much for doing our accounts. It’s good to know we always have someone friendly and reliable to help us. If it wasn’t for you, it would be a lot harder for us!”
East Brighton Bygones
We give groups a postcard to return with a rating of our work and any comments, when we complete the examination of their accounts. 48% of the cards we gave out were returned and 100% of these rated our work as excellent.
Support and advice
We ask for feedback when we have completed a substantial piece of work with a group, such as helping to draft a funding application, drawing up a project plan or advising a treasurer on book-keeping. Often, a single ‘job’ is carried out over a period of weeks, involving several visits, which are counted as separate sessions.
If we discuss an issue with a group briefly at the front desk (our Advice on Demand service), we don’t generally ask for written feedback.
In 2017-18, we completed 110 pieces of support work on which we asked for feedback. 68% of our feedback forms were completed, and all but one of the groups responding rated the work as excellent and said that it made them more confident and their group work better.
Last updated: January 2019