Annual Report foreword
As the new Chief Executive of the Compensation Agency, I am pleased to sign an annual report which records that in 2009/10 the Agency achieved all but one of its operational and financial targets. This represents a significant achievement by the Agency's staff.
Our ability to achieve all 10 targets was impeded by the long term sick absence of key members of staff and by requests from an external agency to support them with very urgent work. Neither of these events could have been foreseen by the Agency at the target setting stage. I am also delighted to report that during the year we successfully retained our Customer Chartermark accreditation.
Our priorities for the coming year are again to reduce the number of claims outstanding at the beginning of the year and to make further progress at reducing the time taken to process claims. We have set demanding targets, aiming to improve on our performance last year. We will also progress the appraisal of our IT systems, to ensure future capability and resilience and to further improve the way we handle claims.
The Agency also intends to strengthen its focus on customer service, and during the year we will be assessed against the vigorous standards of the Customer Service Excellence Scheme.
The Agency has an excellent team of very experienced staff, committed to good customer service and efficient service delivery. I am excited about joining them and look forward very much to leading the team over the next year.
MARCELLA McKNIGHT
