What our users think

Comment on advice session:Thank you so much!!!! Excellent service!! Professionalism and great support/reassurance in helping us setting up charity.Comment on account examination feedback card: Thank you very much for examining our account and be patient with us. It is very good in checking and writing a details about anything.Comment on session feedback form: This has helped so much as I create the paper on my own and this has made the process much faster. Learning the tips and tricks not only speeds up my putting together of the bulletin (for example using a table rather than a hundred different text boxes!) but also makes it look proffesional and easier to read. You guys are amazing. Thank you.Comment on session feedback form: The support given was good, constructive advice on all aspects of setting up a Residents Association. The follow up help available to achieve this will also be very much appreciated.Comment on session feedback form: Excellent session. It will help us on all levels, and great support throughout. All staff are great.Comment on session feedback form: She is very happy to help Oromo Community with an open hand. Thank you is too small. We appreciate your work.Comment on account examination feedback card: We very much value the service you give to our Residents Association. Thank you.Comment on account examination feedback card: The questions you ask each year have helped us to improve our accounting procedures so much that we now rarely receive any queries!

“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 2018-19, we did 79 examinations of accounts and 408 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. 51% 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 2018-19, we completed 88 pieces of support work on which we asked for feedback. 63% 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: July 2019