KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – Administrator General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Administrator General’s Department (AGD) Lona Brown, said that excellent service delivery is the main priority of the department.

She said the agency recognises that it carries out a critical function, that of administering the estates of persons, who die without leaving a will.

 “It is not a one-off service; we take care of families. So, when someone dies and a minor is involved, it is the AGD’s responsibility to administer that estate, so we can have that estate with us for over 18 years. Even under trying circumstances, we ensure that our customers are taken care of,” she said.

The administrator general was speaking to JIS NEWS after proudly collecting the Prime Minister’s Trophy and a cash prize of $300,000, for winning the ‘Best Customer Service Entity’ award (single location) category in the 2015 Public Sector Customer Sector Competition (PSCSC).

It was the third occasion that the agency was copping the award in the competition.

Brown credited the win to the dedication of the staff in serving the needs of clients. “We have refurbished our offices, trained our staff, our customers are at ease when they visit us, and the timeline to attend to a customer is very short,” she noted. 

Brown said the agency has made strides in clearing the backlog of cases, and noted that the ability to issue her own Instrument of Administration, and commence the administration of an estate, without needing to get a grant from the court, have significantly enhance operations

The winner for ‘Best Customer Service Entity’ award was determined by votes received from members of the public. 

Winners in the category must have a Citizens’ Charter in place; display service standards for customer information; have an easily accessible complaints mechanism; provide information on services; seek regular and systematic feedback from customers; implement best practices to improve services; display courtesy and professionalism in interactions with customers; and to put systems in place to provide customers choice of access to services. 

The PSCSC, a critical component of the Public Sector Transformation and Modernisation Programme, is one of the strategies implemented by the Office of the Cabinet to achieve higher levels of service delivery in public sector entities. 

It rewards entities that demonstrate service excellence in various categories with winners being selected through public vote and independent judging.

The PSCSC seeks to promote and encourage commitment to and continuous improvements in the quality of service, as well as encourage former winners to surpass their standards of service-delivery since the last staging of the competition.

The competition is open to all public sector entities.