A review into Broxtowe Borough Council’s customer services has been published after its own councillors criticised performance, with one describing a particular area as an “abysmal failure”.
That scathing assessment was previously made by Councillor Philip Owen, who represents Nuthall East and Strelley for the Conservatives, on the phone system, one of the most common issues raised by residents.
And Councillor Jill Owen, who represents Watnall and Nuthall West for the Conservatives, said there was a “long list” of officers who constituents could “never get through to”.
A review of ‘Telephone Answering and Customer Services’ was published this month and is set to be discussed by Broxtowe Borough Council at its meeting on October 19.
It states that calls should be returned in one working day and that 80 per cent of enquiries should be resolved at the first point of contact.
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It put forward five recommendations which will be discussed by councillors on Wednesday (October 19), including that temporary staff are used during peak call times.
It also said officers should only use answer phone messages if they are away for no more than 24 hours and messages should be replied to the following working day.
The review found that the service was “improving” in the first three months of the year due to a greater presence of Customer Services Officers within the Council building.
“It was positive that there had been improving levels of call answering but a fluctuation caused further concern”, the review states.
There were some concerns raised over the call abandonment rate, where the customer hangs up before they speak to an agent.
The review papers state: “The information had indicated sizeable call abandonment within Housing Operations and Housing Income, this was mainly due to the high calls in the first instance and areas where staffing was remote at times.
“Work was being undertaken to look at arrangements with Customer Services to support the call handling.
“Monthly reports on call abandonment would be sent to Heads of Services for greater scrutiny with individual staff and service delivery.”
The review into the telephone system and customer service was chaired by Councillor Philip Owen with Councillor Marie Hannah, who represents Eastwood St Mary's for Labour, as the vice chair.
Three other councillors and three council officers also contributed to the review.
Councillor Owen said the review into customer services would “run alongside” a separate report into housing repairs in Broxtowe.
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