Calls in April to the Isle of Wight council call centre faced up to 35 minute delays. The IWC explain below that following investment in more staff and changes to procedures, that has now dropped to one minute or under. Ed
Telephone calls to the Isle of Wight Council are now answered, on average, in 60 seconds or less, following a substantial investment in its contact centre.
The ‘magic minute’ target has been met or bettered since August after council investment in staff, changes to working practices, plus a revamp of online services.
Additional staff
To meet the minute target, funding was provided to recruit additional advisors and both the council tax and housing benefit teams moved staff to sit within the contact centre, so calls could be resolved at the first point of contact.
Online improvements
The council’s housing benefit and bill paying online portals were also improved and self-service kiosks installed in Isle Help at County Hall.
Going forward, the team is looking at automating processes, developing online transactions to make services more accessible for customers and reviewing correspondence to make it easier to understand.
Image: sevilaydurul under CC BY 2.0
