Insolvency Service Performance Targets
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Norman Lamb)
I have today agreed to the publication of the Insolvency Service’s performance targets for the period 2012-13.
Over the past two years there has been a significant fall in the number of bankruptcies, which has driven down the number of new compulsory insolvency cases dealt with the by the official receiver from 78,000 cases in 2009-10 to a level of 43,600 in 2011-12, with the expectation that this will continue to fall to around 35,000 in 2012-13.
In response to this fall in cases. The service has cut many of its costs, including a reduction in its staff complement from 3,200 to 2,100, and has introduced a number of significant operational changes throughout 2011-12. I have, nonetheless, set the service some challenging targets for the coming year.
In response to the significant change which the service is undergoing, it has decided to increase its focus on staff engagement and has introduced its score for this as a published target in 2012-13.
In reviewing its other targets the service has decided to increase their number, so that they cover a broader range of enforcement outputs and improve consistency in the way in which timeliness for enforcement is measured, with the focus being to ensure that statutory deadlines are met. The service will continue to measure its stakeholders’ confidence in the enforcement regime, seeking to improve on last year’s score of 65%.
Similarly the service will continue to monitor the timely delivery of key outputs to customers for redundancy payments and reports to creditors, as well as the overall level of customer satisfaction.
At present, the service is undergoing an independent review of its funding and corporate structure, which is due to report to BIS at the end of June 2012. As the recommendations from this review will, no doubt, impact heavily on the organisation’s activity for 2012-13 and beyond I have agreed that, while their key targets should not change from those issued here, their corporate plan should be published once the outcome of the review is known.
Therefore the Insolvency Service Corporate Plan will be available from the end of August 2012 at: http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/About-us.
Insolvency Service Published Targets | 2011-12 Actual | 2012-13 Target |
|---|---|---|
Customers and Stakeholders | ||
Percentage of customers who were very satisfied or satisfied with the service they received (ORS/RPS) | 94% | 90% |
Stakeholder confidence in the service’s enforcement regime (IES/ORS) | 65% | >65% |
Staff | ||
Insolvency Service staff engagement score, as recorded through the Civil Service Staff Survey | 47% | >47% |
Service Delivery | ||
Percentage of reports issued to creditors within eight weeks (ORS) a) for bankruptcy cases b) for company cases | 93% 80% | 92% 80% |
% of appropriate disqualification cases in which proceedings are instigated (S16 letter issued) in under 23 months (ORS/IES) | 99% | 90% |
% of live investigation completed within six months (IES) | 86% | 90% |
% Bankruptcy Restrictions authorised within 11 months of the date of insolvency (ORS/IES) | 71% | 80% |
Action redundancy payment claims (RPS) a) within 3 weeks b) within 6 weeks | 68% 85% | 80% 93% |
The service will also look to build upon its current Customer Service Excellence and Investor in People status, by gaining re-accreditation in 2012.
In addition to these targets the service is required to meet Government-wide targets relating to replying to correspondence from hon. Members, and making payments to suppliers.
Other Targets | 2011-12 Performance | 2012-13 Target |
|---|---|---|
Reply to correspondence from Members of Parliament within 10 days | 87.1% | 100% |
Process payments to suppliers within 30 days | 98.9% | 100% |
The Government have also instructed Departments and agencies to maximise levels of payment of undisputed invoices within eight days.