Rates staff unhappy with managers

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Almost half of staff at Northern Ireland's rates body are unhappy with senior management, it has emerged.

Details of the Land and Property Service's staff survey were published along with an action plan to improve its often criticised performance.

Asked if senior managers were setting a clear direction, 44.5% either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Only 19.8% agreed while the rest were neutral.

Only 14% believed that senior managers effectively managed external relations.

On the other hand, 39.4% disagreed with this.

On the question of whether senior managers "ensure the service is well managed to produce the planned results", 45.7% did not agree while 39% were neutral.

The survey also suggests deep dissatisfaction with how change is handled by senior managers, with 47.6% believing it is not managed effectively.

On whether staff felt senior managers valued their work and recognised a job well done, 43.1% did not agree although 24.2% felt their hard work was appreciated.

Participation

The response rate was high, with 69% of staff at grades AA to grade seven participating in the survey in March.

The LPS was set up two years ago and is responsible for valuations, issuing bills and collecting rates.

Since the body's inception, its image has been damaged by bad publicity such as unpaid rates climbing to a record high last year.

A review by the government's Performance and Efficiency Delivery Unit (PEDU) was ordered in March by then-finance minister Nigel Dodds. One of the unit's first actions was conducting the survey of agency staff.

After the review's findings were published on Wednesday, Finance Minister Sammy Wilson said he was encouraged by recent improvements.

"The agency is progressing very well, processing times are falling, backlogs are down and performance against their targets has improved," he said.

The PEDU report set out six objectives for the agency:

<ul class="bulletList" ><li>Develop a clear sense of purpose for the organisation;</li><li>Drive change and integration from the top;</li><li>Develop a culture of delivery supported by an effective approach to performance management;</li><li>Strengthen the understanding of and focus on key customers;</li><li>Maximise revenue collection against accurate and timely assessments;</li><li>Reassess some internal structures to improve delivery of business aims. </li></ul>