Newport City Council Customer Service Faces Challenges, Pledges Improvements

Customer service at Newport City Council can be “uneven and confusing to access”, with issues causing “increased frustration” for residents.
A review of the local authority’s customer support services found residents thought waiting times on the phone were too long, emails could be hard to understand, and forms are not always user-friendly.
The level of service is “pretty good” generally but “it’s not systematic across all service areas”, Rhys Cornwall, the strategic director of transformation, told a committee of councillors on Monday.
Contacting the council with a problem should be “as easy as ordering a pizza”, he added, citing a colleague.
The council hired outside contractors to review the various branches of its customer service department last year.
Those specialists said the My Council Services option online had “potential” but should be made more user-friendly.
The phone-based contact centre operates “reasonably well” with limited resources but struggles with residents’ more complex enquiries, they added.
The consultants also said councillors were facing increasing demands from constituents, and labelled the current process for contacting ward representatives “confusing”.
The committee heard that senior councillors had pledged £320,000 towards improving customer services.
This covered the total cost of the project, including “around £30,000” to pay the consultants, Mr Cornwall added.
As an example of residents’ red-tape problems, committee member Cllr Kate Thomas said the process for applying for parking permits had changed over the years and continued to throw up “real communication gaps”.
Cllr Matthew Pimm asked whether staff were coping with the need to make changes.
Ceri Foot, the service manager of the customer services department, said her colleagues were “really positive” about the necessary improvements.
And on another positive note, Cllr Pimm said he believed the council’s over-the-phone service was “one of the best” when compared to some experiences he’d had with call centres for utilities firms.
But Ms Foot told him the likelihood of the council introducing a call-back service for residents was constrained by the workload of the team, which is “rammed” each day.
The council is expected to make improvements to its customer services department over the next 18 months. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​