Decision details

The Portfolio Holder for Resources and Personnel Policy received the review from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Telephone Answering and Customer Services. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee Working Group reviewed the topic with the purpose to ensure the following outcomes were reached that the calls were answered within an agreed amount of time and the functionality of online Customer skills were agreed.  Members agreed that the report was very good quality and the conclusions reflected the concerns that had affected Customer satisfaction in the past. The recommendations that had been received would support the service delivery in achieving the outcomes required.

RESOLVED that:

1.    Staffing contingency arrangements be considered for the Contact Centre during peak times in order for residents’ calls to be answered, in addition to the use of market supplements to address staffing issues.

2.   Key Performance Indicators be introduced in relation to departmental call answering data to monitor performance and provide feedback.

3.    The answerphone greeting should be standardised across the Authority and be conducted by the Individual Officer. For all Officers to follow a set process of answering calls across the Authority. Officers should only use answerphone messages if they are away for no more than 24 hours and messages should be replied to the following working day. If Officers are to be away for longer the call would enter a hunt group to be answered by a colleague. This should be included in the Customer Services’ Strategy.

4.    The phone message that reminds customers of the possibility of resolving issues by visiting the Council’s website to be reviewed, the length of the message reduced and repetition of the message reduced.

Reason

This review was in accordance with the Council’s corporate values of continuous improvement and delivering value for money.