In a 78 page report Land Registry has indicated pride in the service that it has delivered.
Marco Pierleoni, Chief Land Registrar and Chief Executive said:
"Serving customers quickly, efficiently and courteously has always been Land Registry’s priority. This year has been no exception with over 95 per cent of customers rating our services as good, very good or excellent, over 98 per cent of all registrations processed free of any error and over 89 per cent of all registrations processed within 15 days.
"In a changing world, and with Land Registry itself changing fast, the creation of a new, diverse and flexible approach to serving customers has become a necessity. We have achieved good results in a challenging market but we can still do more to better understand and serve the needs of our customers. This year we have needed to achieve greater efficiency and we are in the process of implementing the changes announced under our Accelerated Transformation Programme, which will lead to reductions in staff numbers and offices, with savings of nearly £500 million over the next ten years.
"I recognise that the last couple of years have been exceptionally tough for our staff but we’re doing our best to support them through this difficult period."
Marco praised the way in which Land Registry staff place customers first, at the heart of the work they do. He also paid tribute to the way in which staff have adapted to using the many new technological advancements that are helping to transform and streamline Land Registry’s services and modernise the business.
Key performance indicators show that:-
– 98.6% of official copy applications were processed within two days
– 89.4% of registrations were processed within 15 working days
– 95.29% of customers felt the overall service was excellent, very good or good.
Though whilst Land Registry targeted to increase revenue from added value products by £4.9M it only managed to achieve £4.1M and complaints nearly doubled from 2,389 to 4,183 of which many complaints were about increased fees.
There were also 1,011 claims against the indemnity fund that were valued at £7.8M, this was a decrease on the number of claims in prior years. A Land Registry spokesperson has told Today’s Conveyancer that there is no intention of changing the fees this year.
The press release from Land Registry announcing the report stated;
“Highlights of the year include:
* Savings: Land Registry has achieved a significant saving of £65million in its cost of service and administrative expenses in 2009/10.
* Sharing space: in the first agreement of its kind across central government, Land Registry signed a five-year deal with Ordnance Survey (OS) to lease space at its data centre in Gloucester.
* Customer focus: customer teams have been introduced to liaise with regional business customers, regardless of their geographical location, helping to centralise and maintain consistent customer contact.
* Customer strategy: a customer strategy has been developed to describe the type of customer experience our customers wish to have with us, and that can be delivered at a cost that both Land Registry and our customers can afford.
* Management training: Land Registry received a National Training Award and achieved a saving of over £291,700 by not going out to external consultancy.
* Comprehensive Land Register: the proportion of registered freehold land topped the 70 per cent mark, compared with 45 per cent in 2004.
* Property fraud: increased investment in our anti-fraud activities stopped attempted fraud against properties valued at an estimated £20million and a Protect your Property campaign was launched in January 2010.
* E-conveyancing: continued to move services online and launched a consultation into introducing the rules for electronic transfers, the third main element of electronic conveyancing after electronic discharges and charges.
* Migration to portal: our secure website platform for accessing Land Registry’s electronic services attracted substantial numbers of customers.
* Business Gateway: was developed to streamline processes by enabling customers to send and receive data electronically, directly from their case-management systems.
* Flood Risk Indicator: was made available to home-owners and buyers via the Find a Property web pages.
* Investors in People: despite a tough year with pressures on training budgets this accreditation was retained due to the high standards of staff training provided in regional offices.
* Accelerated Transformation Programme: final decisions were announced in March 2010 which included the closure of the Portsmouth, Stevenage and Tunbridge Wells offices in 2011 (though with a reduced presence remaining in Portsmouth until March 2013), reduced staff numbers and the outsourcing of certain functions.”
