Customer Journey Mapping

Summary report
20/08/2011

Authors of report
J Phillips / Lynn Gornall
Complaints & Intelligence Officer
Business Intelligence Group
Tel: 01772 530549 /534098
Jenny.phillips@lancashire.giv.uk
Lynn.gornall@lancashire.gov.uk

Customer Journey Mapping 1

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………..……3
2. Background and context…………………………………………………..…4
3. Executive Summary…………………………………………………………...5
4. Methodology……………………………………………………………………6
5. Findings…………………………………………………………………...…….6
6. Benefits…………….……………………………………………………………8
7. Challenges………………………………………………………………………9
8. Conclusion……….…………………………………………………………… 10
9. Recommendations……………………………………………………………11

Appendix 1: The Customer Journey Mapping Template

Appendix 2: MA Summary Report from UCLan

Customer Journey Mapping 2

1. Introduction

Central government requires public services to offer greater opportunity and

support to local people by them becoming directly involved in managing and
shaping how local services are delivered. Lancashire Adult and Community
Services (ACS) is committed to this approach by listening and responding to
customers in a way that uses their experiences and views to affect service
design and delivery.

In 2011 the ACS Directorate had already undertaken a huge amount of

consultation and research with its customers and the citizens of Lancashire as
part of the wider Community Engagement strategy. Many citizens were
already engaged on many levels and in may different arenas - but to ensure
service improvements there was a need to see things through the customers
eyes; to be able to elicit how the service is 'experienced' by customers.

Customer Journey Mapping is one of a range of tools which can be used to

understand how our customers experience direct service provision. As it is a
process that focuses on tracking, describing and drilling down to the impact of
their experience, it can test out preconceptions and then be used as a vehicle
to drive organisational change.

Using this approach (dovetailed with the work on customer engagement)

there was the potential to offer credible and detailed evidence of the impact of
the way people are treated and to complement the dignity agenda. The
hypothesis was that it could also be used to provide a wider picture of a
customers' journey and how the customer gained access to a social care
service which may also involve the input of partner agencies.

A pilot Customer Journey Mapping exercise had been undertaken in 2010 by

Personal Social Care services to consider the experience of customers whose
outcome following a contact assessment was recorded as 'Self–funding' and
'No Further Action' (NFA).

That exercise compared the customer experiences with the directorate's

perception of how services are received by those whose savings are above
the funding threshold. The results challenged the idea that people who would
be regarded as 'self funding' were being referred unnecessarily to ACS.

It was felt that a repeat exercise exploring the 'carer's' experience of first or
most recent contact with LCC would provide an in-depth examination of those
processes and inform the statistical information already held from other
sources. Used effectively, customer journey mapping could provide a key
component to aid effective partnership work and to deliver joint service
initiatives and improvements.

With this in mind, the Business Intelligence team were tasked with developing
a model of Customer Journey Mapping appropriate to this situation with a
view to exploring the possibility of an ongoing mapping programme across
services in relation to other 'customer journeys'

Customer Journey Mapping 3

 2. Background and Context

Within a learning organisation it is recognised that staff - individually and

collectively - can play a pivotal role in enhancing the reputation of the
organisation by effectively engaging with its customers.

The Business Intelligence team regarded this project as an ideal opportunity

to engage not only with those viewed traditionally by others as its 'customers'
(ie carers) but also with its partner agencies and to raise awareness amongst
those involved in the pilot of the need to listen and respond to customers and
use the information for continuous improvement.

It would be a vehicle to gather qualitative information, to bring together

existing staff, to 'engage' potential future professional employees and, where
the Directorate provides multiple Social Work student placements, there would
be mutual gain for LCC and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

This exercise was seen as having the potential to test out not only the viability
of the mapping model but where it aimed to gather qualitative evidence for
ACS, it would also give 6 MA Social Work students the enhanced opportunity
to undertake empirical research and fulfil the National Occupational standards
required for their placement, their research dissertation and their degree.

At the suggestion of senior managers, the journey selected for examination

within this pilot was the experience of a customer's (in this case a carer's) first
or most recent contact with the organisation.

By using the skills of these supernumerary 'researchers' on this occasion it

would determine if the pilot project could be developed into an ongoing and
self -sustaining process with minimal support for Social Work students in the
future. It would also establish if the technique could be employed more
extensively by other staff within Adult Social Care (ASC) and/or the wider
organisation

To ensure that the basis for the research was ethical and robust, the pilot
scheme was initially approved by the University's ethics committee due to the
students need to have direct customer contact and subsequently ratified by
the ACS 'Carry on Learning' group.

An evaluation of the processes used, the resources required and the benefits
and challenges to all parties from this exercise would be used to inform the
focus for the future within both ACS and UCLan.

Customer Journey Mapping 4

 3. Executive Summary

The Care Quality Commission is keen to see organisations use the

experiences of their customers to improve services.

Using customer journey mapping as a tool for continuous improvement the

technique can be directly linked with the developing initiatives around learning
and development, staff engagement and customer focus. The process
provides a meaningful way for the organisation to engage with customers and
encourages them to tell their 'stories'.

This pilot project was designed to gain an insight into the needs of customers
and how they perceive services, it would support strategic thinking and
planning and test out/provide a positive and focused way of engaging both
staff and customers.

Following negotiations with UCLan and their subsequent selection of the

appropriate students, it was undertaken by 6 MA student social workers
placed with Lancashire County Council between January and June 2011.
Fourteen mapping interviews/exercises were undertaken with non-paid carers
who volunteered their time.

The journey selected for 'mapping' on this occasion was the carer's first or
most recent contact with the organisation, yet findings indicate that the initial
contact itself appears not to be the most important issue for the majority - but
what comes next.

Findings also suggest that there are areas for improvement within contact
processes but that many carers were satisfied with the overall service and
keen to tell the students that this was the case. However, the exercise
revealed what should be already evident to social care services; that carers
are not a homogenous group and therefore systems which are implemented
cannot be deemed to universally acceptable.

Although in theory this exercise was 'cost neutral' due to the 'supernumerary'
nature of the student researchers, it was resource intensive. LCC practice
educators, learning and development managers, business intelligence,
university tutors and operational support staff; (change implementation
manager) were all involved in supporting this work both before and after the
research period.

All those involved in the pilot project have identified both the individual and
organisational benefits which have emerged but it has raised questions both
for the University and for LCC about whether this type of approach is
appropriate for seeking general feedback and/or repeated in future.

UCLan have expressed a keen interest in taking part in similar or other types
research in partnership with ACS/LCC future and are keen to open further
negotiations with heads of service.

Customer Journey Mapping 5

 4. Methodology

 The pilot project was undertaken by 6 MA student social workers between

January and June 2011following negotiations with UCLan and their
selection of the appropriate students
 LCC practice educators, learning and development managers, business
intelligence, university staff and operational support (change
implementation manager) were all involved in supporting this work
 ACS resourced the project with students placed within adult social care
teams - but students placed within teams from within Children and Young
People's Service also participated and were supported by practice
educators within that service
 The students were involved throughout the life of one Customer Journey
Mapping exercise.
 Issues of confidentiality were addressed prior to the commencement of the
pilot project.
 Templates to record and document the Customer Journey were
devised/designed by the Business Intelligence team (See Appendix 1)
 The pilot 'journeys' focused on LCC involvement only – but dependent on
the outcome of the pilot future CJM exercises would consider the
involvement of other agencies (see section 5 - findings)
 Students on placement were under the supervision of practice educators
(Social work practitioners).
 One interview per student was directly observed by a practice learning co-
ordinator (Staff training Centre) which helped to meet the requirements of
the Social Work degree and for quality assurance purposes
 A large number of carers who were previously known to be willing to take
part in research were then nominated by the team. A total of 14 of those
carers were further selected and interviewed by students
 Both group and one-to-one support was offered to each student by the
Citizen Feedback Officer to assist them with compiling the evidence from
the interviews
 Feedback sessions were also held by the Business Intelligence team and
the Staff Training Centre with students to monitor progress and offer
additional support
 UCLan tutors were involved in evaluating the pilot programme with the
students
 Research undertaken by the students was used by the students, the
University and LCC

5. Findings

An in depth summary of the responses prepared by UCLan can be found at

(Appendix 2). Themes from the findings from the CJM pilot were as follows.

Customer Journey Mapping 6

Overall:
 The pilot exercise suggest that there are areas for improvement within
contact processes but many carers were satisfied with the overall service
and keen to tell the students that this was the case. The pilot exercise
revealed what should be already evident to social care services; that
carers are not a homogenous group and therefore systems which are
implemented cannot be deemed to universally acceptable.

The process:
 Research interviews of this nature produce not only data which is asked
for, but other information; organisations need to be alert to dealing with this
information
 Where mapping the journey reveals unintentional or wider outcomes (ie
not the anticipated information) and thought must be given to how that will
be progressed where that occurs
 Narrative approaches to research may not be compatible with the CJM
instrument as it was designed here
 Although the suggested questions within this pilot were designed merely
as prompts to direct the conversation, students often reported that they
were required to interrupt the narrative account to obtain specific
information. It is recognised that this may be about the experience of the
interviewers
 The 'steps' within the CJM template may not be specifically identifiable
with the carer experience
 CJM is designed to focus on one journey or specific areas of one journey,
but carers frequently wanted to share their whole story, which is to be
expected.

From carers about their experience:

 The initial contact itself appears not to be the most important issue for the
majority of carers - but what comes next
 It was difficult in many cases for carers to separate their thoughts about
the initial contact as their goal (and therefore at the forefront of their
thinking) was the achievement of something beyond that.
 Poor 'further' experiences influenced their overall perception of the first
contact
 Clear, accurate and easily available information about how to access
services (eg carer/support groups etc) is key for carers
 Continuity of provision and named staff within the organisation were
appreciated by carers
 Lack of the above coupled with having to tell the same story to multiple
agencies was frustrating for carers
 Carers appreciated the time and effort taken by the students, the fact that
they had the opportunity to spend time with them and the level of skill the
students displayed in engaging with them

Customer Journey Mapping 7

 Where carers had experienced problems, the opportunity to talk about it
was cathartic. Where they had a good experience it had enhanced the
reputation of the service
 For some carers the decision to contact for support/help/advice had been
taken within a context of crisis/ feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope. For
these carers, therefore, emotions were running high at the initial point of
contact. There is a high probability of carers in this situation being unable
to absorb or retain much of what they’re told

For Students/Uclan:
 The students felt that it was a really good experience for them, allowed
them to apply their skills in practice and gave them an insight into the
carer role
 Some of the students have been recruited to jobs within Social care
and the CJM exercise was cited in their interview
 The support by the project group members was felt to be invaluable;
particularly the one-to-one support, and students enjoyed working with
the other students as part of the process
 Developed greater insight into the experiences and emotions of carers,
who previously have been a ‘seldom-researched’ group
 Felt they had developed greater insight into issues in service delivery
and the relationship between expectations and responses to service
delivery
 Began to be aware of differences between recall and perception and
official accounts
 Felt that their work was contributing to future changes and
improvements in service delivery to carers
 Had opportunities to develop their research interview skills and to
recognize the differences with social work interviews
 Evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of semi-structured interviews
as a qualitative research method;
 Developed practice awareness of power relationships in research
interviews
 The University has strengthened it partnership/relationships with LCC
for mutual benefit

6. Benefits of using the model: in addition to the findings

above

ASC/LCC

 A good deal of qualitative and insightful feedback was gathered

 This 'appreciative enquiry' approach has the potential to engage
practitioners if positive feedback is relayed to practitioners
 Any difficulties highlighted through CJM can be used to promote
organisation learning

Customer Journey Mapping 8

Carers

 Where carers had experienced problems, the opportunity to talk about

it was cathartic.
 Where they had a good experience it had enhanced the reputation of
the service

Students/UCLan

 The students have reported that it was a really good experience for
them, allowed them to apply their skills in practice and gave them an
insight into the carer role
 Some of the students have been recruited to jobs within Social care.
CJM was cited in their interview
 Students found the support by the project group members to be
invaluable; particularly the one-to-one support, and enjoyed working
with the other students as part of the process
 Methods for a qualitative approach to research and the benefits of it
have been highlighted
 The exercise has raised the profile of its students and strengthened its
position where promoting the benefits of the 'social work student'
placement structure.
 UCLan MA social work students have been shown to be able to
undertake a particular level of research on behalf of ACS
 UCLan have expressed a keen interest in taking part in similar or other
types of research in partnership with ACS/LCC future and are keen to
discuss this further with heads of service
 UCLan has been able to recognise the weight of the work required and
are keen to invest resources into future exercises if this or other types

7. Challenges

Future challenges for using this type of approach:

 Although the quality of the information gained here was high and
pinpointed the issues for customers in line with the organisation's
principles, the resources required to provide the amount of support
which the students needed to implement the process could be seen as
disproportionate to the numbers of interviews carried out
 This specific approach may not be appropriate to explore every area of
work. The challenge then is to identify areas of service where this
technique can be used for an in- depth examination of the impact on
the customer of changed provision
 Demands on the Business Intelligence team are increasingly more
pressing in times of reduced staffing capacity

Customer Journey Mapping 9

  Restructuring of services presents wider challenges for resourcing
 There limits as to the types of journey a student could map (eg
safeguarding) and the level of student who could do a mapping
exercise (ie not first placement students)
 Where there were varying degrees of support from the students'
practice educators on placement more preparatory work with practice
educators would be required for future research.
 Where this work is regarded as being separate from the student
placement requirements difficulties are created for students
 IT (ISSIS) access for one students placed outside of ASC was
problematic
 Student placement 'timetabling' presents challenges for services and
resources
 The circumstances of many carers who had previously volunteered to
help with research had changed - resulting in difficulties within the
student's University time scales

8. Conclusion
Customer Journey mapping is one process from amongst a range of
processes that focuses on tracking and describing the customer experience. It
can challenge the preconceptions of practitioners and organisations and be
used as a vehicle to drive change. It dovetails with the work on customer
engagement and has the potential to offer credible and detailed evidence of
the impact of the way people are treated.

This pilot exercise using Customer Journey Mapping has been shown to be a
success. It has proved to be an ideal opportunity to engage not only with
those viewed traditionally by others as its 'customers' (ie carers), but also with
its partner agencies and to raise awareness amongst those involved in the
pilot of the need to listen - and respond - to customers and use the
information for continuous improvement. The approach has also revealed high
quality and relevant information.

The benefits of using this approach have been identified not only for carers
who were the focus of the exercise, but also for organisations and students.
It has revealed both the anticipated but additional and unanticipated results,
highlighted specific issues for carers in their first or recent contact and/or how
this has impacted on their ongoing relationships with LCC.

At the outset of the pilot exercise, the situation with regard to organisational
capacity within ACS to support this approach in the future was somewhat
different to the current position. There remains a commitment to this approach
within and amongst the organisations which have been part of this pilot
exercise. Yet it is not clear that it has been possible to determined that the
technique in this particular format could be developed into a self sustaining
process with minimal support and/or used more widely by staff within Adult
Social Care (ASC)

Customer Journey Mapping 10

The success of this pilot and the positive working partnership with UCLAN that
has resulted from this project has created an offer from UCLAN to engage in
further research with ACS. This opportunity allows for the Directorate to
consider freely the benefits and challenges associated with this approach.

The report therefore makes the following recommendations

9. Recommendations

Customer journey mapping is only one tool from a range of tools which
ACS uses to engage customers but it has been found to have the ability to
'drill down' to elicit information about the issues which customers may
experience and how service provision might impact on them.
 Senior managers should make a prompt decision about whether -
and how – this resource intensive approach can be used again in
times of reduced capacity as the time-tabling of any subsequent
exercise needs to be anticipated and planned far in advance of the
MA student placements in January 2012
 Consultation to be undertaken with One Connect (HR Learning and
Development) to discuss the resource implications in the light of
their own internal restructures
 Senior managers should take a view on where the process should
'sit' within the organisation (Business Intelligence within ACS or with
One Connect)
 Clear roles and responsibilities of all the staff required should be set
out prior to commitment to a repeat of the process. This would
require a commitment from the service identified as 'owning' the
process
 Practice educators within social care services should be engaged at
the outset as dedicated time for the exercise is required. This would
require the full co-operation of operational services where the
students are placed. CJM should then be included as part of the pre
placement meeting and identified as work required as part of the
placement
 A project support list should be drafted prior to a repeat of the
process identifying the staff members involved and their role to
enable students to raise any points promptly
 Senior managers should make an early decision about the
'journeys' to aid co-ordination, the inclusion of students and tutors at
an earlier stage and enable students to design recording templates
etc.
 Senior managers should consider making use of the range of skills
held by MA social work students to facilitate future research on
behalf of the organisation
 Further discussion should be undertaken with UCLAN to consider
all methods and areas of research practice.

Customer Journey Mapping 11

 How will you test out if
Appendix 1: Customer Journey Mapping Templates staffWhat
feel are
abletheto unmet
Think
needs?
deliverHow an about
What
improved
will you strategies
do
How ownership
has
How the service
do for
you know this?
Customer Journey Mapping Research Report The
changed?
willservice?
you
Implementtion
this
service
Are
accountability
use and
and
ofto
both
staff
for
these?
manage
the
the
more
any
YES
model should
teams result
and in
wider
engaged organisation
with the will
decisions
identifiable changes
individuals?
have more knowledge
Title organisation?
in the service
about its workforce
and customers NO

Report Date: xx
Author: xx
Job role

Background

Brief paragraph about why this research has been undertaken, journey
type, customer type, sample size etc.

How this research will be used e.g. The outputs from the interviews can
assist in comparing these customer experiences with the directorate's
perception of how services are received by carers

Methodology

Approach and planning

Brief outline of how research carried out and why e.g.

A Customer Journey Mapping approach was used to plan and carry out the
interviews. This enables customers to tell their story themselves, so that we
can learn from their experiences from their point of view. Background
information on the Customer Journey Mapping approach used is contained
within Appendix A of this report.

A potential ??? carers identified from ??? (number of) ISSIS records were
interviewed A profile for each of these carers was created (personal
information removed), to provide a full summary of their interaction with Social
Services which led to their contact and its subsequent outcome Each carer
was given a code for anonymity and the profiles recorded with details of the
carer's district and the workers involved. ??? (number) agreed to an interview.

Interviews
Interview methodology summary e.g.

For each interview this report includes:

Customer Journey Mapping 12

  A copy of the Carer Profile – information recorded on ISSIS, showing a
summary of previous contact with social services, if any, details
recorded against the contact which resulted in the final outcome, and
contact information taken from outcome comments and diary sheet
entries

 A copy of Interview Notes – notes taken at interviews, using an

interview script for guidance only

 A Customer Journey Map – a pictorial record to show the Carer's

emotions at each stage of their interaction with Social Services, as
agreed during their interview

Conclusions and future work

How conclusions have been drawn, comments about limitations of
research and possible future work building on this work e.g.
Whilst this report only contains the results of interviews with??? carers, there
are common themes emerging from both interviews. Further work could
potentially be undertaken to consider our response to a growing number of
carers.

Customer Journey Mapping 13

Interview 1 – Customer xxx

Carer Profile – Customer xxx

Age:
Primary Category:
District:

Summary of previous contact with Social Services

Information recorded for Carer Contact

Referral Details:
Presenting
Problems:
Length of
experience/
impact:
Recent related
events:
Did Service User
have any
solutions in
mind?

Recorded Contact with Carer (from Diary sheet entries - DSE)

date DSE Input by

Referral outcome date:

Referral comments

Customer Journey Mapping 14

Interview Notes – Customer xxx

Each step relates to the relevant Journey Step – shown on Customer Journey
Map.
Example questions below. These questions are not prescriptive but are
merely to prompt and guide the discussion. The interviewer will be
required to explore issues as they arise. Facts are important but the
carer's 'feelings' are equally significant.

Step 1: Carer realises that he/she needs help/advice

Guidance questions:
 Was the carer already in receipt of services?
 Had you experienced the problem/needed help or assistance for a
while or was their problem immediate at the time of the call?
 What other avenues had been explored? Had you been to others for
advice or taken any other form of action?
 How did you contact LCC
 Where did you get the contact details from? Were these easy to find?
 Were you given the details and number from anyone in particular?
 Had you called LCC on any previous occasion?

 It would be useful to capture how the carer felt about ringing? i.e was it
a last resort, do they see it as their right, do they feel that they are an
inconvenience or that their problem may not be significant, do they feel
that asking for authority help means that they are a burden.

Customer Comments:

Step 2: Carer contacts LCC

Guidance questions:

 Did you feel that the person answering the phone fully understood their
issue, i.e. were they confident that they had been able to explain your
situation?
 Did you feel you were listened to?
 Did they feel they were treated with dignity and respect? If yes – how?
If no – why?

 It might be useful to ask if the interaction met their expectations

Customer Comments:

Customer Journey Mapping 15

Step 3: Carer is given advice and agrees to be referred to Social
Services (if new customer)

Guidance questions:
 Was this your first contact with LCC / Social Services
 Did you understand the advice given and the next steps i.e. were you
clear about what to expect next?

 Ask if they were referred anywhere else, such as Help Direct, Carers
Centre etc.

Customer Comments:

Step 4: Carer is contacted by Social Worker or Review, Assessment and

Support Officer (or other)
Guidance questions:

 How was contact made? Telephone or Face?

 Were you comfortable with the way in which you were approached?
 Do you feel you were treated with respect?
 Would they have preferred a different method of
contact/communication?
 Feelings about contact and ease at which you felt during this time

Customer Comments:

Step 5: Carer is given advice

Guidance questions:

(Level of understanding of customer, feelings about questions and decisions

made and advice given)

 How timely was this contact - or the follow-up contact

 Were you clear about the outcome of the discussion?
 What were you offered?
 Were you already aware of the Help Direct service?
 If Help Direct was discussed, were you offered a home visit or face-to-
face appointment with Help Direct?
 Were you given advice about any other LCC service such as Welfare
Rights etc?
 Add Carers Centre to the example on the last point.

Customer Comments:

Customer Journey Mapping 16

Step 6: Next Step for Carer (Summary)
Guidance questions:

 If advice was given, was it helpful?

 What were next steps for you and how did things turn out?
 How do you feel about your contact with LCC?

Customer Comments:

Customer Journey Mapping 17

Customer Journey Mapping 18
 Carer realises that Carer contacts Carer is given advice Carer is contacted Carer is given advice Next step for carer
Journey and agrees to be
Journey he/she needs Lancashire County by SW, RASO or
Steps help/advice Council
referred to Social
other
Steps Services (if new customer)

Touch
Touch
points
points Carer knows who to Carer satisfied with Carer understands what Carer listened to and Carer receives Carer needs are met
contact initial contact will happen next understood appropriate advice
Desired
Desired
Outcomes
Positive

Outcomes
10

9
Neutral

5
Negative

Customer Journey Mapping 19

Appendix 2

Summary Report prepared by UCLan

SUMMARY REPORT ON PILOT RESEARCH PROJECT LCC AND UCLAN 2010-2011:

CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAPPING AND MA SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS

What The Pilot Achieved – Themes Arising from interviews

Between them the students interviewed fourteen carers in total, using the CJM instrument
with a series of ‘steps’ to elicit information about each carer’s ‘journey’ of contacting LCC and
receiving services. As noted by the students (below), themes emerging from the interviews
reflect much that has been found in existing research and literature. Themes are as follows.
All carers interviewed recognized to varying degrees that that LCC is interested in their
experiences and their views;

 There is an expressed need for early intervention/support, rather than waiting for a
crisis;
 There is a need for information about access to local carers support services and
groups;
 What was appreciated: being listened to, being understood, being given a sense that
the carer and their concerns were being taken seriously, being given clear
advice/information and clear timescales; speedy responses and contact; continuity of
worker/contact person
 What was not appreciated: a lack of clarity in advice/information about procedures or
‘next steps’; not receiving detailed information; not feeling listened to or understood;
not being taken seriously; extended waiting times; lack of continuity of worker/ contact
person;
 Wishes were expressed for consistency in allocation of social workers; relationships
with workers which can be informal as well as formal;
 Wishes were expressed for improved communication; inter-agency communication
was part of this (having to repeat information);
 Wishes were expressed for speedy response to inquiries – see below, heightened
emotions;

 For some carers automated systems may be difficult to understand and navigate;
 For some carers there was confusion between different professionals – who was who
and what was their role;
 For some carers the decision to contact for support/help/advice had been taken within
a context of feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope. For these carers, therefore,
emotions were running high at the initial point of contact. Extraploating from this

Customer Journey Mapping 20

 theme (PC), there is a high probability of carers in this situation being unable to
absorb or retain much of what they’re told.

Indirect Themes
This section comprises themes which were not the focus of the CJM interviews, but which
emerged indirectly.
 The range of personal health and social problems caused by having caring roles and
responsibilities;
 The emotional nature of caring and physical and financial demands that it entails;
 The CJM interview process not being geared to taking account of the impact of
caring responsibilities on carers’ lack of well-being;
 There was a general lack of information and knowledge about local Carers’ Centres
and Help Direct;
 Participants represent ‘extremes’ (satisfied – dissatisfied) and experiences may not
be typical.

Students’ Learnings
Students’ learnings from the research project in relation to carers are as follows.
 Carers are not an homogeneous group;
 Students developed greater insight into the experiences and emotions of carers, who
previously have been a ‘seldom-researched’ group;
 Students noted the relevance and resonance of findings in existing research studies
to carers’ answers in interviews;
 Students felt they had developed greater insight into issues in service delivery and
the relationship between expectations and responses to service delivery ;
 Students began to be aware of differences between recall and perception and official
accounts;
 Students felt that their work was contributing to future changes and improvements in
service delivery to carers.
 Students’ learnings from the research project in relation to research are as follows.
 Students had opportunities to develop their research interview skills and to recognize
the differences with social work interviews;
 They evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of semi-structured interviews as a
qualitative research method;
 They developed practice awareness of power relationships in research interviews;
 They learned that research interviews produce not only data which is asked for, but
other information;
 They developed understanding of the validity of qualitative research findings;

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  They learned that narrative approaches are not compatible with the CJM instrument
and experienced some dissonance; sometimes interrupting narrative account to get
specific questions answered;
 They learned that carers speaking about wider context of contact with LCC helped to
frame specific questions;
 They learned that some carers interviewed had difficulty distinguishing between the
‘steps’ in CJM.

Students’ Reflections on Process

From their reflections on process, the students concluded the following points.
 Guidelines are needed concerning the respective responsibilities of UCLAN and LCC;
 There were difficulties in accessing the records system experienced by students who
were not placed with LCC or who were placed in Children’s Teams;
 They enjoyed and benefitted from mutual support with and from one another in the
project group – discussion and sharing of issues in the process, findings and relevant
research and literature about carers to support their dissertations;
 There is a need for regular supervision and support in relation to the research,
possibly with someone independent of LCC and UCLAN;
 There is a need to get practice educators on board concerning the nature of the
project, the scale of the project and the time required; some were more engaged than
others;
 Time for transcribing and analysis needs to be recognized and included in the project
workload;
 More training on CJM and on conducting interviews would have been helpful;
 Training in research interview practice with practice educators in attendance might
have assisted in having practice educators feel more involved;
 On reflection it might have been helpful for the students to have been involved in map
design, as they were the ones using it;
 On reflection it might have been helpful to have local carers and service users
involved in map design and possibly in advising and supporting students;
 Two students interviewing one carer might have benefitted both in terms of learning –
peer feedback and support;
 CJM is designed to focus on one journey, but carers frequently wanted to share the
whole story, which is to be expected. (This issue is also recognized by HM
Government, 2008);
 Some students identified that the letter being titled ‘Your Story’ may have led carers to
believe that a story was what was wanted; and that more detailed information and
greater clarity of purpose in the letter might have reduced misunderstandings;

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  Implicit in CJM is an ideal journey; however the students understood that carers’
journeys did not always match the ideal;
 In CJM there is an overlapping in questions for some Steps;
 Generally despite the difficulties, all students felt this project it was a worthwhile and
enjoyable experience which has enhanced their understanding, knowledge and skills.

UCLAN Learnings and Reflections

From a larger original cohort, six MA Social Work students participated in this project,
interviewing carers on behalf of LCC. Of the six, three students were awarded first class
honours for their dissertation; one student achieved a merit in their final profile and three
achieved distinction.

This vindicates the Steering Group position that only those students who achieve high marks
for the research module should be put forward for such a project.

If the project is repeated, LCC need to anticipate that setting up, carrying out and transcribing
interviews of this kind will take longer than anticipated due to participants desire to tell ‘the
whole story’ and allow more than sufficient time for this work to be done. This needs to be
built into PLA and the practice educator made aware of the implications – time and the need
for their support - of this work.

Wherever possible communication should flow through one or two people on each side with
clearly nominated replacements in cases of annual leave or sickness. This could be PC and
DP from the Steering Group for general enquiries; CS for placement enquiries; JP and RR
and BR at LCC to respond to queries from or students’ queries about LCC practice educators
and other parts of the local authority organization.

Communication would be enhanced by a tutor attending briefing meetings with LCC; we

would need sufficient notice and a choice of dates/times to avoid teaching and other clashes.
In order to comply with the requirements and timescales of the Social Work School Ethics
Committee, work on a repeat project needs to begin early in autumn – see also below,
Conclusion.

Like the students, members of the Steering Group have enjoyed and learned from the
process of jointly working with one another and with the students and with our partners in
LCC, developing knowledge to inform service delivery.

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Conclusion
The two external examiners for the MA Social Work Programme each read one of the CJM
dissertations and both wrote in their reports that this project was an excellent opportunity for
students to undertake empirical work of this kind in the context of local agency partnerships
and that it should be continued if at all possible.

If this project can be repeated next year, there are seven potential students for inclusion.
However, given all of the foregoing comments from LCC staff, practice educators and
students about the need for preparation of students and of practice educators, the UCLAN
Steering Group request an early and clear indication from LCC, so that we can begin
preparations in September rather than December

MA course leaders need to mention the pilot in the Course Handbook which is issued during
the summer; CS needs to forward plan students into placements and engage with practice
educators about the project, as do LCC themselves and tutors need to be allocated
timetabled slots in semester 1 to engage with the selected students and begin early
preparation around the different style and structure of the dissertation.

This project has been win-win for all concerned. LCC have had a research instrument piloted
which they can now adapt according to feedback and comments on practice; carers have
been provided with opportunities to comment on their experiences of LCC services; students
have had opportunities to work as practitioner –researchers and develop research skills and
UCLAN have been able to develop another facet of our partnership with LCC, with students
contributing to knowledge and service delivery.

PC 01.08.2011.

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