Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID): customer satisfaction survey 2021

Customer views on RPID's performance

Satisfaction with RPID performance

The highest levels of satisfaction were seen for payments arriving on time – seven in ten (69%) were very or quite satisfied with this.

Several of the areas where customers were most satisfied related to aspects relating to RPID staff members – e.g., staff being knowledgeable about schemes (66%); enquiries being quickly resolved by staff (62%); and inspection staff acting professionally (61%) were all aspects of RPID's performance that satisfied most customers.

Customers were also satisfied that written correspondence from RPID is clear (63%).

In the 2013 survey, 72% of customers were satisfied that they are promptly directed to staff who can help you. 70% were satisfied their enquiries are quickly resolved by staff.

Q5: Thinking about your experiences in the last 12 months, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the performance of RPID on each of the following factors? Base (all): 2,147

Satisfaction with RPID performance

Reflecting previous findings, customers were generally least satisfied about aspects of RPID's performance relating to two things:

• Applications forms
• Information about schemes

They were least satisfied about application forms being easy to complete (46%) and information about schemes being easy to find (44%).

Across all satisfaction measures, there were key differences by business type and role of respondent.

Business partners were more likely than owners to be satisfied with several aspects of RPID's performance, including:

• Payments arriving on time (77% vs. 68%);
• Inspection staff acting professionally (67% vs. 59%); and
• Enough guidance on how to complete applications (62% vs. 50%).

Q5: Thinking about your experiences in the last 12 months, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the performance of RPID on each of the following factors? Base (all): 2,147

Ways for RPID to improve

Customers who were dissatisfied with three or more of the aspects of RPID's performance were asked to select the ones they would most like to see improved. This group equated to 15% of the total sample.

Reflecting previous findings about satisfaction levels, application forms being easy to complete was, by some margin, the most common aspect of RPID's performance customers would like to see improved (42%). Information about schemes being easy to find was another key improvement from customers' perspective (29%).

There were few consistent differences by groups of customers, suggesting customers generally feel similarly about aspects of RPID's performance they would like to see improved.

Crofters (49%) were, however, more likely than farmers (37%) to report they would like application forms to be easier to complete; whereas farmers (33%) were more likely than crofters (23%) to want information about schemes to be easy to find.

In the 2013 survey, application forms being easy to complete was also the most common thing customers who were dissatisfied with three or more of the aspects of RPID’s performance wanted to see improved (36%).

Q6: Which one or two would you most like to see RPID improve on? Base (all dissatisfied with 3 or more aspects of RPID performance RPID): 528

Communication with customers

When it came to how RPID communicate with their customers, customers were very positive about RPID staff: 76% agreed that staff were helpful towards customers.

They were less positive about RPID's ability to communicate with its customers about rural matters. Less than half (48%) agreed that they felt informed about RPID's rural schemes; and fewer still (41%) agreed that information and services were designed with the customer in mind.

Differences in agreement were most prominent by business type. Other businesses were less likely to agree with each of the statements than crofters and farmers; most notably, that RPID provides information and services designed with the customer in mind – 42% of crofters and farmers agreed with this statement compared with 26% of other businesses.

In the 2013 survey, 56% of customers felt well informed about different aspects of rural schemes they had applied for.

Q4: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements? Base (all): 2,147

Views on the complaints process

A small minority (3%, just 62 respondents) had complained to RPID about its staff or services.

Reflecting dissatisfaction with other aspects of RPID's performance, a greater proportion of other businesses (5%) and crofters (4%) than farmers (2%) had made a complaint.

Customers in Portree (7%) and Stornoway (6%) were also more likely than average to have made a complaint.

Of those who did complain, they were almost twice as likely to report it was difficult than easy – and only a quarter (17/62) felt their complaint was resolved to their satisfaction. However, we do not know whether this was a reflection of the outcome of the complaint, or the way in which it was handled.

Of the suggestions customers gave about how RPID could improve its complaints process, acting more quickly to complaints being raised (13) was the most common.

Customers' experiences of the complaints process

97% customers did not say they had complained to RPID. Of the 3% of customers (62 people) that had complained…

Q8: How easy was it to follow the complaint process? Q9: Was the complaint resolved to your satisfaction? Base (all who had made a complaint): 62. NB: figures are shown as absolutes not percents on this slide due to the small base size.