Public spend less time hanging on phone to Falkirk Council

A panel of councillors worked with members of council staff over several months to make recommendations on how to improve the service, which receives more than 600,000 calls every year, with queries about key frontline services.

Their final report to Falkirk Council’s scrutiny committee heard immediate changes included increasing the number of staff by 1.8 full-time equivalent.

The investigation was called for by councillors, who all said they were getting lots of complaints about the service and the time taken to answer calls.

They were aware problems with the contact centre – the first port of call for people attempting to get in touch with Falkirk Council – led to a negative view of the council overall.

The six members taking part found communication between the centre and the council’s services could be improved, as any changes to service delivery led to an increase in the volume of calls.

If the centre’s staff are briefed in advance they are able to cope with the calls much more effectively.

Regular meetings are now held to keep the contact centre informed about any changes, which means they no longer lose time trying to get information about what’s happening to pass on to customers.

The largest proportion of calls made to the contact centre related to repairs being made for the building maintenance division (BMD).

However, contact centre operatives were unable to actually answer any queries – they could only log the call or a complaint and ask BMD to get back to the customer.

In light of this, members were pleased to learn a new digital system is to be introduced for housing enquiries, which will allow members of the public to manage queries online, including logging a repair and reviewing its status.

Contact centre staff will also have access to the new system, as will housing officers while they are out and about – all of which, it is hoped, will lead to a reduction in calls.

The new system is expected to go live in May.

The panel’s final report says BMD have been working closely with contact centre staff to improve customer experience, through a series of training sessions.

One improvement requested was for training so all of the contact centre staff were trained to handle calls for several services.

Provost Robert Bissett, the chair of scrutiny and also a member of the panel, made clear the aim of the review had been to help improve performance and was not to criticise staff involved.

The report stressed that feedback about staff working in the contact centre was always positive and they were “exemplary” in their attitude, even where there was dissatisfaction with the council services.

The report also recommended producing a short video highlighting the best ways to contact Falkirk Council and advising callers when the lines are very busy.

A further report will return to the scrutiny committee with an update.

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