Each year, the IRRV (Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation) holds a national Performance Award scheme, recognising and awarding achievements made, good practice, and models of excellence. The awards are open to all Local Authorities working within the profession of Revenues, Rating and Valuation, both within the UK and abroad. The awards are very prestigious, and attract a high number of submissions each year.
There is a robust assessment process, comprising written submission followed by a site visit for audit, verification and inspection from the judges allocated to each category of excellence. The judges are IRRV council members and experts in the fields of Revenues, Benefits and Valuation.
Communication and innovation is key to ensuring that we manage the workloads, performance, delivery and health and safety of our staff living and working across the country. We ensure that the very best of technology, systems and processes are in place to consistently deliver excellence in local services.
Jacobs have significantly invested in I.T, ensuring integration with client systems, transparency to administrate accounts online, and provision of instant updates of cases via smartphone and mobile devices on the doorstep. We have excellent performance management in place, including vehicle trackers and GPS technology.
Innovation is not just about I.T. At Jacobs, we believe in partnership working based on automation, creating efficiency and savings for clients (including the transfer of administration burdens, sharing training, and providing wide ranging added value).
The award panel was looking for organisations to demonstrate that they had been innovative in implementing projects, products or procedures. This could have been in the field of I.T, or could be a partnership or change in working practices that had been adopted and implemented within the organisation.
The award panel were impressed by the way in which Jacobs had gone about training their staff, having identified the needs of their clients. The need to use new technology had been embraced, bringing clearly identifiable benefits to clients and customers.
The Inspection Team were impressed by the credibility that the submissions from the company had brought to the Enforcement Agent profession. Jacobs demonstrated the importance of working in partnership with Local Authorities, as well as all agencies who assist those experiencing difficulty in paying their debts.