Sheffield City Council

Sheffield City Council (SCC) along with a number of other authorities (for example York, Leeds and Doncaster) within the Yorkshire region provides a Taxi Licensing service to Customers who can apply for, or renew a Taxi Licence. There are approximately 3000 Taxi Drivers who are active on SCC records and are serviced by the authority when Taxi Applications or renewals need to be processed. Currently the Councils online offer has limitations which results in customers being required to complete paper based application forms and then attend a designated Office in order to process and pay for the application. The subsequent Back Office processing of the application involves significant manual involvement and therefore exploring the opportunity to provide the customer with the ability to complete and pay for a Taxi Application using digital methods has the potential to: 

·           Simplify and enhance the customer experience when they have a need to apply for, or renew a Taxi Licence.

·           Reduce the amount of business administration which currently takes place when processing an application.

·           Manage existing and new relationships with customer using digital communication as opposed to in person or by telephone.

Through initial research, SCC has identified that there are five authorities who follow a similar process to Sheffield Council, who we could work with on a Discovery exercise to better understand the needs of customers who use this service. SCC believes that the outcomes from this exercise can be replicated and used by the authorities to inform the subsequent redesign of the service. 

Although SCC understands the high level issues impacting the service, a project to explore and understand this further has not commenced. During the Discovery stage, SCC aim to work with Partners and Customers to better understand user needs to inform what the new customer journey may look like and how this part of the service could be shaped.