Proposal to Reduce Opening Hours at the Revenues & Benefits Coventry Call Centre Proposal To change the opening hours of the Revenues & Benefits Call Centre to 9am until 5pm Monday to Friday with effect from 1 st April 2014. Currently calls are answered between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday. Background & Reasons The opening hours at the main Council Call Centre and One Stop Shop were reduced to 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, with effect from 1 st Aril 2013. There has not been any noticeable increase in the times taken to answer calls and there have been very few complaints following these changes. In June 84% of calls were answered in 60 seconds. The proposed changes would make the opening times of the Revenues and Benefits Call Centre consistent with other Council services. There would be annual savings of at least 25,300 per annum. Current Call Volumes & Answering Times The Revenues and Benefits Call Centre received 135,000 calls in the financial year 2012/13. This reduced from 170,000 in 2010 with the implementation of an automated telephone payments system. Following the implementation of a number of welfare changes the numbers of calls appear to have increased again to approximately 150,000, but the majority of these calls are received during usual business hours (9am-5pm).
Month Calls Made. Answered Abandoned Aban % % of calls answered in 20 seconds Jan-2012 10798 10620 178 1.6% 86.6% Feb- 2012 9457 9383 74 0.8% 91.8% Mar- 2012 13118 12906 212 1.6% 86.6% Apr-2012 11824 11456 368 3.1% 79.0% May- 2012 11367 11173 194 1.7% 87.9% Jun-2012 9292 8926 366 3.9% 75.3% Jul-2012 10277 10036 241 2.3% 81.4% Aug- 2012 8852 8753 99 1.1% 88.7% Sep- 2012 8827 8705 122 1.4% 82.6% Oct-2012 11662 11472 190 1.6% 83.7% Nov- 2012 11627 11456 171 1.5% 84.8% Dec-12 9332 9226 106 1.1% 87.4% Jan-2013 13760 13359 401 2.9% 73.3% Feb- 2013 11724 11580 144 1.2% 85.0% Mar- 2013 16669 15113 1556* 9.3% 60.4% Apr-2013 16495 15557 938** 5.7% 64.9% May- 2013 14390 14124 266 1.8% 81.4% Jun-2013 11320 11115 205 1.8% 85.8% *1,110 calls were abandoned on 14 th, 15 th & 18 th March following the issue of annual Council Tax bills.
** 361 calls abandoned 19 th -23 rd April following Council Tax reminders. At What Time of The Day do Customers Call An analysis of the times of day when customers call has been made during a typical week. This showed the percentage of calls received during the current opening hours were as follows: Time of Day % Calls 8-9 am 3.8% 9-10 am 10.2% 10-11 am 12.7% 11-12 am 12.8% 12-1 pm 11.5% 1-2 pm 10.7% 2-3 pm 10.4% 3-4 pm 9.3% 4-5 pm 8.4% 5-6 pm 4.8% 6-7 pm 3.2% 7-8 pm 2.2%
Times When Customers Call Currently 14.00% 12.00% 10.00% 8.00% 6.00% 4.00% 2.00% 8-9 am 9-10 am 10-11 am 11-12 am 12-1 pm 1-2 pm 2-3 pm 3-4 pm 4-5 pm 5-6 pm 6-7 pm 7-8 pm 0.00% % Calls The percentage numbers of calls made between 8-9am were just 3.8% of the calls, between 5-6 pm 4.8% of calls were received, 6-7pm was 3.2% and 7-8pm was just 2.2%. These are the quietest 4 hours of the day, with over 10% of calls being made in most of the other hours between 9am and 5pm. Mondays are the busiest day of the week. Impacts, Impact Assessments & Mitigation As can be seen from the above very few calls are made in the hours between 8-9am and 5-8pm. Are customers aware that the service is currently available at these times? Who will be impacted by the service reduction?
It is believed that customers who work between 9am and 5pm each day will be impacted the most, as these individuals may wish to call during the early evening. If the proposal goes ahead, these individuals may be able to call during lunch breaks or would have to use one of the other methods of communication shown below. People with disabilities may have difficulty using the One Stop Shop and may prefer to call the Call Centre. The facility would still be available between 9am to 5pm. What will happen to response times? The current target is to answer 80% of calls in 20 seconds. For most months this is achieved. Compared to other Call Centres this is a very high standard of performance. For example the target at the Council s main Call Centre is 80% of calls answered in 60 seconds. If the opening hours at the Revenues and Benefits Call Centre are reduced to 9am until 5pm, then in theory the 14% of calls made between 8-9am and 5-8pm, will be made during 9am-5pm. It is believed that although the wait times may be increased, on the majority of days customers will not experience any difficulty in having their call answered. Currently on many days over 90% of calls are answered in the 20 seconds. If the proposals are implemented response times and abandonment rates will be monitored. In order to encourage a reduction in the calls being made to the Call Centre, the Revenues and Benefits team will promote other more efficient methods of communication, which are available. As part of stakeholder consultation an impact assessment will be undertaken.
Mitigations Other Methods of communication, which customers should be encouraged to use more are: Online Methods: The Council Tax team have implemented online forms to enable customers to advise of a changes in addresses or discount or exemption changes. The Benefits Office are in the process of developing an online application form and change of address forms are also on the Council s website. Assistance with completing the online form is being developed and is intended to be provided in the One Stop shop. The use of online forms ensures that the customer completes and provides all the required data. This ensures that changes and claims can be assessed promptly and reduces the need for further requests for information. Their use, therefore, should result in even less calls being made to the Call Centre. Automated Telephone Lines An automated telephone line for making Council Tax payments by debit card is available 24 hours a day. Most customers making telephone payments are now aware and use this facility. Stakeholder Consultation A number of meetings will be held with various stakeholder groups over the next few months, in order to seek views on the proposals and consider any other mitigating action, which may be required. The proposed meetings include:
Benefits Strategy & Welfare Reforms Group 19 th November 2013 Benefits Stakeholder group 12 th December 2013 Benefits landlord group 5 th December 2013 Housing Advisory Forum 9 th October 2013 Swindon Tenants Voice 9 th November 2013 Tenants Association for Sheltered Housing - 14 th October 2013 Andy Stevens, Head of Revenues and Benefits 11/9/13