Land Registry currently provides a range of registration services,mainly to solicitors, lenders, licensed conveyancers and property
owners. The services are provided through a limited range of
channels, supported by processes and technology largely developed
in-house, delivered through a network of 24 local offices but also
increasingly by electronic means directly from the computer centre
in Plymouth.
Following the launch of e-conveyancing and the introduction of
commercial services, the range of Land Registry’s customers will
increase, as will customer expectations. A customer segmentation
exercise is underway to help Land Registry to understand and define
the nature of its current and future customers, together with
development of a customer relationship management database.
A substantial range of newly introduced services will run in parallel with traditional registration services at least until the middle of the next decade. A number of the new services will differ substantially from the traditional registration services now offered by Land Registry and will require different skills from Land Registry staff to deliver them. However, Land Registry’s core business will remain the maintenance of a register of title to land and its commitment to the quality and accuracy of that register will remain. All of our services have a statutory basis, but for ease of definition within this document our non-core services that are commercial in nature are called ‘non-statutory (commercial) services’.
The way in which we interact with our customers (channels) will also change, as different customers will demand alternative means of interacting with Land Registry for sales, marketing and delivery of services. A customer management strategy will endeavour to
address that demand. A key decision point for Land Registry will be
hours of opening, as this will have a wide-ranging impact on the
organisation in areas such as staffing, IT and other support services. The local office structure of Land Registry will be retained. However, given the expansion in the number and type of services on offer, the increasing number and type of customers, rising expectations and additional skills requirements, it will be impractical to expect all staff to be able to cover all types of work in a local office. This offers an opportunity for Land Registry to develop a more specialised skill base in some areas. In particular, a deeper level of specialisation in business development, marketing and sales will be required.
Major aspects of the new services are independent of geography
and will require central direction and coordination to ensure
efficiency and effectiveness and to set standards. This will lead to the creation of a number of national roles. Service delivery will continue to be provided principally through local offices but the business structure of the local office will change as customer and service-specific teams are developed to deliver the new services. These national roles will work closely with the local offices. Internal support services (including Facilities, Finance, Human Resources (HR), Information Systems (IS) and Legal Services will need to review their own structure and process in the light of changes to service delivery. Reviews of HR, IS, Facilities and Legal Services are now underway.
At a broader level, the way Land Registry measures performance
may also need to be revisited to make sure that it reflects the new
service portfolio, business structure and ways of working.
With the advent of e-conveyancing, Land Registry will become more visible in the conveyancing process. It will become involved at a much earlier stage of the process, changing from an 'information provider' to a 'market organiser’.
This will bring considerable pressure and potential public and media focus to bear on our IT systems and their performance. The future technology landscape will remain a mix of both in-house developed and third party-supplied products, with more interfaces with our customers’ systems. This more complex IS environment will be subject to strict control and require careful management. New and enhanced IT skills will be required.
The future business structure will require fewer people to deliver services effectively. This will reduce the amount of office space required across the organisation. As part of a long-term estates rationalisation process Land Registry has decided that offices with dual sites will merge and Harrow and York Offices will close. The planning of these mergers and closures is underway and a
timetable has been developed.
Making the transition to the new business model will be challenging. A set of guiding principles has been agreed to which the journey, as well as the end state, must conform. In particular, the requirements to maintain Land Registry’s high levels of customer satisfaction, service delivery excellence, business resilience and status as a good employer during a sustained period of change will be a significant management challenge.
In the Blueprint, certain aspects of the transition have been
considered in depth. In particular, attention is drawn to the need for coordination and thorough planning in order to minimise the impact on people and services.
Underpinning Land Registry’s transition to its future state will be its commitment to encourage a culture of diversity and staff
development, to protect the environment and to support positive
interaction with the community.
The changes to structure, jobs, skills and the estate will have a significant impact on people. This must be fully evaluated, planned and the change carefully managed. The Business Transformation Programme is responsible for ensuring that the implementation of Blueprint recommendations takes full and proper notice of these challenges. |
