The Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (IEP) for the West Midlands commissioned Babcock Research to develop and pilot a customer-focused approach to performance management and workforce development through mystery service user evaluation of public services in Walsall. Of the 354 local authorities in England, Walsall ranks in the top 50 most deprived for measures of extent, income and employment. The systems designed, tested and refined by Babcock Research through this project will support local public sector organisations in the area to move towards new performance management approaches required by the new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA). Public services working in partnership to benchmark their own and collective performance against measures jointly devised, included those delivering community safety/neighbourhood crime and policing; health and social care; revenues and benefits advice; leisure services; registered social housing; and general council information.

Local residents and employees were invited to participate in all stages of the project. We ensured a high level of citizen inclusion in the design, operation and maintenance of the mystery shopping evaluation. Babcock Research staff trained a team of local residents and public sector workers, representative of as many facets of the local community as possible, to conduct evaluations. Processes were established for recruitment to refresh the volunteer pool to maintain broad representation and allow for targeted boosts of specific demographics. Training local residents and public sector workers to conduct evaluations provided skills development and facilitated exposure to unfamiliar organisations/services. Research principles, ethics and MRS Code of Conduct were cornerstones of the specific capacity building undertaken with residents. Babcock Research supported sustainable skills development among volunteers (residents and public sector workers), enhancing employability and developing transferable skills for workplace progression: we monitored training outcomes within the project.

Delivering evaluation findings which would improve staff morale, identify personal development opportunities and facilitate a partnership approach to measuring service quality across an authorities public services was just the first part of this projects output. We also trained the local authority’s Consultation & Customer Feedback Officer and colleagues within partner organisations to take forward a sustainable process, sustainable tools, and a trained team of volunteers to conduct further evaluations using established best practice. This project is receiving national interest among IEPs, due to its innovative and sustainable partnership approach.