Land Registry and its achievements

Maintaining operational excellence

This is a tough agenda - but we will deliver it because we are passionate about making property transactions easier for all

News in brief

In 2004-05 we received over 5.5 million applications for changes to the register and completed: nearly 90 per cent in our target of 20 days; more than 60 per cent on the day received; over 98.5 per cent free from error.

Over the last 10 years, our workload has doubled while our resource level has reduced by a third; and we have reduced the fees we charge by 57 per cent cumulatively in real terms.

Registering customer satisfaction

“This has been an outstanding year for Operations, with every member of staff playing their part in helping us achieve all our performance targets, despite a slowdown in the property market at the year end. With backlogs of work practically reduced to zero, and accuracy remaining high, we are now delivering efficient services in a way that we are proud of, and that our customers have a right to expect. We have recently completed the final phase of the most intensive training programme in our history, training our Registration Executive staff on all aspects of registering new titles. Land Registry offices now have greater flexibility and the ability to adapt to processing any form of new title work that may be lodged. The market is changing. In this new low-backlog, low-intake environment we have shared work between our 24 offices to maintain a balanced workload and increased our efforts to persuade landowners and other large holders of land to register their land voluntarily. Generating sufficient new registrations will be a key challenge in the year ahead."   Andy Howarth, Director of Operations

Planning for successLand Registry’s 10-Year Strategic Plan is in place with a mission to provide the world’s best service for guaranteeing ownership of land and facilitating property transactions.

"In 2005–06, we will aim to process registrations quicker than ever before by reducing the benchmark of processing times from 20 to 18 working days. We will also be building upon the initial success of Land Register Online, by adding the facility for the public to view and print out deeds. We will step up our efforts to complete the Land Register by registering, for the first time, an additional five per cent of the area of freehold land in England and Wales. We will also complete the prototyping for electronic document authentication. This is a tough agenda. But we will deliver it because we are passionate about making property transactions easier for all."  Alan Pemberton, Director of Strategy

Putting the customer first

The staff’s innovation and energy were infectious

News in brief

“I write to extol the virtues of Land Registry in the speed and manner in which it recently dealt with an urgent application for registration of title.”  P L Simner, Kidderminster

“From a disabled person’s perspective, your online form is very easy to use and print off. It is one of the easiest portals I have found on the web and extremely user friendly, especially for those with disabilities.”  T J L Midgley, Stafford

Staff ran mock job interviews and Industry and Enterprise Days in schools this year…

“A highly rewarding and worthwhile experience, not only for my own self-development, but for the pupils and Land Registry as a whole."

“I found the whole experience both rewarding and fulfilling and I only hope that I was able to pass on some good tips for their future interviews.”

“It was a fantastic experience and one I would like to do again. I was truly disappointed that the day came to an end as I was really in the flow of things.”

I thoroughly enjoyed being involved in this challenging initiative.”

Making our mark in the community

Land Registry has now won the Charter Mark five times in succession. Charter Mark rewards public sector or voluntary organisations that achieve high standards of customer service and Land Registry is one of the first organisations to attain this record.

“This remarkable achievement demonstrates Land Registry’s strong commitment to provide excellence in customer services. Charter Mark is so obviously embedded within the organisation. What really struck me wherever I went was the enthusiasm and commitment to provide the highest standards of customer service and service delivery from senior management through to front-line staff… the staff’s innovation and energy were infectious.”  Michael Yule, the Charter Mark assessor

Charter Mark has recently introduced a new criterion that assesses an organisation’s contribution to local communities and we were commended for the ongoing project to implement a corporate social responsibility policy. Our offices across the country have taken part in a wide range of outreach activities. For example…

• Land Registry Wales and Land Registry Swansea took part in a support scheme for schools run by a private company, Career Wales. Our staff provide mentoring and mock interviews to pupils from year 10 upwards. This raised the local profile of Land Registry and has encouraged staff to volunteer in the community.
• Nottingham West organised Industry and Enterprise Days for year 10 pupils at three local mainstream schools and a school for pupils with learning difficulties. Pupils saw the types of plans which Land Registry prepares and had a chance to design their own housing estate plan. It was a rewarding experience for both staff and the children involved, one graphic piece of youthful feedback being:

“Land Registry – it rocks!”

Transparency rewarded

Breaking down barriers between organisations and people is the principle that guides every aspect of how Land Registry communicates with customers and stakeholders. Our vision is to be recognised as a truly transparent organisation. Our efforts were recognised when, in June 2004, Land Registry won the prestigious CIPFA/PricewaterhouseCooper Award for Public Reporting and Accountability for a second time. This achievement shows our strong commitment to being a completely transparent organisation in our dealings with our stakeholders. The award judges were impressed with how Land Registry draws the public into their organisation, engaging ordinary people and inviting them to find out more.

All of our future plans and past results can be viewed on our website. The public can use Land Register Online to view and print a copy of their register and title plan.