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Surrey
Heath Borough Council Surrey Police Woking Area
Primary Care Trust Surrey County
Council |
NEWS
RELEASE |
Putting the
Customer First
Surrey Heath Borough Council is improving the way it deals with its customers,
to provide the best possible level of service in customer care by developing
services over the next couple of years. The aim is to give customers faster
response and easier access to Council services, by telephone, email and
in person, through use of new technology and changed methods of working.
The Council has decided to introduce a Contact Centre at Surrey Heath
House as the customer’s first point of contact in order to eliminate
the often frustrating process of passing telephone enquiries to staff
in the various service areas and to enable the Council to get it right
first time. It will gradually enable all face to face customers to have
their enquiries dealt with on the ground floor.
The Customer Service Team, which currently consists of twelve team members, has received intensive Contact Centre training to provide a professional and friendly service to all customers. The Council is continuing to invest in the build and refurbishment of the ground floor area at Surrey Heath House, IT systems, telephony and service improvement to ensure customers receive the best possible service.
The Council’s services will be phased into the Contact Centre between October 2005 and February 2007 as the necessary support systems need to be set up to allow the Customer Service Advisors to access information. Once the Contact Centre is fully established, the Council will eventually be able to resolve most of its customer enquiries from the first telephone call or email received.
By eventually consolidating calls in to one central point, less people are required to handle calls from the public and this in turn will mean that highly qualified technical and professional staff will be able to concentrate on their areas of expertise while the routine and general enquiries are looked after by the Customer Service Team.
The first services to be phased into the Contact Centre in October 2005 include Environmental Services, Concessionary Fares, Choice Based Lettings, as well as Main Reception. The rest of the Council services will be phased in over 2006/7.
The Council has also made major changes to cash payment facilities with the closure of the cash office at Surrey Heath House and replacing it with a self-service kiosk on the ground floor that will take cash, credit and debit cards from the end of October 2005.
There has been a significant reduction in the number of people using the cash payment service as more people choose to pay by direct debit - since January this year an extra 800 residents have chosen to pay their Council Tax by using Direct Debit. Customers choosing to pay by Direct Debit can help reduce the amount the Council pays in collection costs. Other payment methods include online, the automated telephone payments system or paying by cash or cheque at their local bank or post office with the new plastic payment card ‘FREEPAY’.
Cllr. Moira Gibson, Leader of Surrey Heath Borough Council said, “Improving our services to our customers is our top priority and the planned Contact Centre is about giving the customer what they want and when they want it. However, it is not all about the technology; it is about training the Contact Centre Team to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to deal with the customer enquiries right there and then.”
For further information about
different ways to make Council Tax payments please visit the Surrey Heath
website www.surreyheath.gov.uk - Look under ‘Council’, ’Council
Tax’, ‘FAQ’s’ and then ‘Paying my Council
Tax’. Alternatively please contact Revenues on 01276 707176 or email
revenues@surreyheath.gov.uk. For further information on Surrey Heath’s
Contact Centre please contact Annie Burrell, Contact Centre Manager on
01276 707668 or annie.burrell@surreyheath.gov.uk
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Contact
Centre Reception area |
Contact
Centre back office area |
For further information or photographs contact:
Amanda Gow, Press & Communications Officer 01276 707312
Jenni Wheller, Communications Assistant 01276 707415
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