Information, Triage & the Receptionist's Role

Guidance for Reception Staff

The Receptionist’s Role
What is involved in giving information?
What is involved in triage?
What is involved in giving advice?
What is wrong with giving advice?
What we say and what clients hear
Golden rules
 

The Receptionist’s Role

In most advice services, the receptionist is the first person a client meets when s/he is seeking advice. The receptionist is the public face of the advice service and in many agencies, acts as the "gatekeeper", managing clients’ access to the service. The receptionist’s skills and knowledge are equally as vital to the effectiveness of the advice service as those of an adviser, and reception can only operate effectively if it is properly valued and supported by the entire service. In most advice agencies, the receptionist’s role will include some or all of the following tasks:-

• "meeting and greeting" clients: making them welcome; allaying fears and anxieties; finding the most effective form of communication
• providing information about the services available at the advice centre
• "sign-posting" clients and providing information about other local advice services
• assessing the nature and urgency of the enquiry and liaising with colleagues to arrange appointments or urgent advice
• managing difficult situations: e.g. distressed or abusive clients
• arranging and updating displays of information materials, such as leaflets and factsheets

In order to carry out this role effectively, reception staff need a range of skills and knowledge which will usually be acquired through training and experience and supported through supervision and appraisal. In particular, the receptionist must have a thorough knowledge of the services provided at the advice centre and of the advice services delivered by other local providers.
 
This guidance aims to clarify the role of the receptionist particularly with regard to the functions of providing information and conducting triage assessments.
 
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What is involved in giving information?

Legal information consists of the provision of information about the law as it applies generally on a given matter. It is then the responsibility of the person who receives the information to decide how it applies to his or her particular situation and what actions/he should take. For example, a client may be given information – such as a leaflet or fact sheet - about the circumstances in which a landlord may seek re-possession of a property or the criteria for entitlement to claim Income Support. It is then for the client to attempt to apply the legislation to his own specific circumstances.

Mr. Syed calls into the advice centre and tells the receptionist that he has recently been dismissed by his employer and wants to make a claim against his employer for unfair dismissal. The receptionist makes an appointment for him to see an employment adviser and gives him a leaflet about employment rights.

The receptionist has given the client some general information about employment rights; she has not attempted to tailor this information to fit his particular situation. It is then Mr. Syed’s responsibility to find the information he is seeking from the leaflet and to take any action which then seems necessary.
 
Information is usually in the form of:-

• a factsheet or leaflet
• a website: e.g. DWP, ACAS
• contact details for another service

The receptionist may perhaps indicate the sections of the leaflet or website which may be of interest to the client: for example, the information given in a leaflet on employment rights about the procedure for making an application to the Employment Tribunal. This may be especially necessary if the client appears confused or is not confident in using the internet or written materials. However, the receptionist does not attempt to relate this information to the client’s specific query or make any comment about what action he should take.
 
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What is involved in triage?

Triage is a system used in many advice services to improve access to the service and to prioritise clients with urgent enquiries. It consists of a brief interview with the client to determine the nature of the enquiry, any urgent matters or deadlines, and, in some cases, to make an assessment of the client’s ability to take action himself to resolve the problem. A system of triage called "gateway" is now routinely adopted in Citizens Advice Bureaux and has been found to be effective in reducing the time clients spend waiting at "drop-in" and open access sessions. In CABx, "gateway" interviews are conducted by staff trained specifically for that task. Outside the CAB system, triage is often undertaken by receptionists. It may follow a very similar format and purpose to the "gateway" system or it may be a simplified process with the principal aim of allocating appointments in accordance with the urgency of the enquiry. Triage will usually include asking questions to obtain the following information:-

• the area of law in which the enquiry falls (debt, welfare benefits etc.)
• any urgent matters and important dates: e.g. dates of court hearings; deadlines for submitting an appeal
• whether the client has received advice on the same matter from another advice service
• what action the client has already taken to resolve the problem
• what correspondence the client has received from any person or organisation related to his enquiry: e.g. an employer, creditor, the DWP

Triage is primarily an information-gathering exercise and so the triage worker will not give advice. She may need to consult a colleague – such as an adviser or manager – if unsure about the implications of the information provided: e.g. the significance of a letter seeking possession of a client’s home. Following the triage interview, the client will be offered an appointment, at a date early enough for action to be taken on any urgent matters; referred to another advice service if the advice needed cannot be provided by the agency he has contacted; given self-help information if it is clear that he can deal with the matter himself.
 
If a triage system is in operation, the receptionist or triage worker will need to keep a record of the information obtained from the client and this will be given to the adviser before the client attends for his appointment. Prompt sheets for the various areas of law in which the advice centre offers a service may be a useful way of ensuring that all relevant information is obtained from the client.
 
If triage is undertaken as part of the normal reception process, the advice service needs to consider the following issues:-

• time required for the triage interview and the level of staffing needed to undertake triage and deal with other callers and telephone calls
• confidentiality: clients should not be asked to give detailed information about their enquiries in a public area where others may easily overhear
• training and support: triage requires sufficient knowledge of common legal procedures (such as deadlines for appeals) to be able to assess the urgency of the problem and to understand whether it falls within the remit of the agency

The receptionist/triage worker asks Mr. Syed when he was dismissed and how long he had been working for his employer. She asks him to say briefly why he wants to make a claim for unfair dismissal. She asks what action he has taken to date; whether he is a member of a Trades Union; whether he has already received advice from another adviser about this problem. She uses a standard triage form to record the information he gives and makes an appointment for him to see the employment adviser in time for an application to be made to the Employment Tribunal before the deadline date. She tells Mr. Syed what documents he needs to bring to the advice interview.

The receptionist/triage worker has obtained enough information from Mr. Syed to find out important facts and to identify any key dates. This information will enable her to decide whether the advice service can help Mr. Syed and, if so, how urgently he needs to see an adviser. She may also provide general information, such as leaflets and factsheets, to help Mr. Syed understand the possible remedies available to him, but she will not suggest any particular course of action or offer an opinion about the information Mr. Syed has given.
 
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What is involved in giving advice

Advice involves deciding how the law applies in a particular situation. Any information about how the law applies to the client’s particular problem or set of circumstances may constitute advice. This may include, for example:

• advising someone on whether or not his/her circumstances satisfy the criteria for the award of a given social security benefit – e.g. Disability Living Allowance
• advising a tenant about his/her rights when the landlord is seeking repossession of the property
• advising a person with debts on how to file for bankruptcy

The receptionist asks Mr. Syed why he was dismissed and he says that it was because he had been late for work but that other employees were often late and had not been dismissed. He also says that the employer used to treat him less favourably than other staff because he has a disability. The receptionist then explains the grounds for claiming unfair dismissal and says that he should also claim that the employer discriminated against him.

In this example, the receptionist has gone beyond providing information and has given advice: she has suggested to the client a way in which employment law may apply in his particular situation. The client may well rely on this "advice" in deciding what steps to take about his enquiry.
 
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What’s wrong with giving advice?

Clients will often ask the receptionist for advice or to give an opinion on their enquiry and it may be tempting to give advice when the enquiry concerns something of which you have some knowledge. Many clients are anxious about their problems and desperate for any help. However, the advice service is liable for any advice given and the client may well complain or even attempt to sue the agency if the advice is wrong. For this reason, and to ensure that advice is comprehensive and timely, advice agencies must ensure that advice is given only by people who are trained and supervised and have access to up-to-date legal resources.
 
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What we say and what clients hear

When a client visits an advice agency, s/he may not be aware of the different roles of the various people who work there: for example, the client may think that everyone who works at an advice centre is an adviser or is competent to give advice. For this reason, reception staff should always be aware that what may be intended as helpful information can sometimes be interpreted by the client as giving advice.

After Mr. Syed has described his enquiry, the receptionist explains the procedures for applying to the Employment Tribunal. She tells him to make sure that he mentions in his claim that he had suffered discrimination from his employer.

In this example, the receptionist’s intention is to give the client information about the procedures for lodging a claim at the Employment Tribunal. However, Mr. Syed may possibly interpret this as advice that he has a valid claim against his employer and should therefore lodge a claim to the Employment Tribunal.
 
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Remember...

1. Always explain to the client that you will do your best to help him find advice but that you are not an adviser: you may need to repeat this if the client insists on asking your opinion.
 
2. Know what information resources the agency has available and ensure that these are kept up-to-date and are easily accessible. Make a note of enquiries about matters that the agency does not help with (such as making a will; applying for power of attorney) and ensure that there are leaflets available about these matters in the waiting area.
 
3. Ask for help if:-

• a client is acting in an aggressive manner;
• you are not sure about something (e.g. whether or not an enquiry is urgent);
• you need support or training to do your job more effectively.

 
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The Golden Rule

The receptionist or traige worker is not an adviser, whatever legal knowledge s/he may have. Do not be tempted to give advice, even if you think you know the answer to the client's problem and even if the client asks your opinion or presses you for advice. You must tell the client that you are not qualified to give advice.
Legal advice which is wrong, out of date or incomplete is always bad advice. It does not help the client and may well provide him/her with an opportunity to sue the Advice Centre. All legal advice given at an Advice Centre must be delivered by or directly supervised by an adviser who has the necessary level of knowledge in that area of law.

 

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