Customer Services Performance Report
Renfrewshire Council · 3 April 2025
Back to Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board — 3 April 2025 and its agenda
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___________________________________________________________________ To: Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board On: 3 April 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Director of Finance and Resources ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Customer Services Performance Report ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 This report details performance across key Customer Service functions including Call Centre, E-mail, Face to Face and Digital Support for customers during February 2025. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that the Board: Note the contents of the report. _________________________________________________________ 3. Customer Service Provision 3.1 This section details the performance of the customer service centre for February 2025. The report provides an update on the overall contact centre call and e-mail volumes. Face to Face services continue in Renfrewshire House, and details of customer volumes are provided in this report. Demand for Digital Services remains high, and this report will update members on the level of online transactions being completed and the performance of the Digital Advisor “Millie”.
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3.2 Contact Centre Performance 3.2.1 High level monthly summary – for the month of February, the contact centre received 21,288 and answered 98% against a primary target of 90% for the period. Table 1 – Customer Service Unit – Primary Target (call handling) Primary target Year Calls Received February Performance Year to Date 90% calls answered 2025 21,288 98% 97% 2024 25,654 96% 95% 3.2.2 The call centre achieved the primary target of answering over 90% of calls received. 3.2.3 The secondary target is to respond to 70% of all calls within 40 seconds. Table 2 – Customer Service Unit – Secondary Target (call handling) Secondary target Year February Performance Year to Date 70% calls in 40 seconds 2025 68% 68% 2024 73% 71% 3.2.4 The contact centre was slightly below the secondary target of answering 70% of calls within 40 seconds. Overall performance was impacted in the first week of the month following storm Éowyn. This recovered in the second week and was above target for the remainder of the month. The total call volume is lower than the same period last year and members will note later in the report an increase in e-mails and onilne transactions as the Digital Advisor provides customers with a choice in how to interact with the Council. The process for Free School Meals and Clothing grant applications for the new school session re-opened in June, and to date the team have processed 4,277 applications for Free School Meals and Clothing Grants and paid £706,380 in clothing grants to 5,454 children.
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For the same period last year, 4,596 applications were processed with £777,150 paid to 5,828 children. The applications for clothing grants in this school year closes on the 31st March, however the team will continue to process requests for Free School Meals. Clothing Grant applications for the next school year will re-open in June. 3.2.5 In addition to the calls outlined above, customers also contact the Council using e-mail as their preferred channel. The e-mails received in the last three months for each service are outlined in table 3 below. Table 3 – E-mail contact volumes Service December 2024 January 2025 February 2025 Blue Badge 233 414 376 General Enquiry 783 1008 836 Environmental 35 57 70 Free School Meals / Clothing Grants 43 31 29 Housing Repairs 1047 1495 2034 Licensing 299 453 369 Mybins 570 742 688 Roads and Lighting Faults 131 247 251 Garden Waste 14 28 38 Total e-mails handled 3,155 4,475 4,691 The volume of e-mails, particularly housing repairs has increased following the introduction of the digital advisor. Customers are being made aware of options in how to contact us and we are starting to see some now choosing to use digital methods like e-mails and online services for non-emergency or routine enquiries, e.g. LED lighting units, applying for larger bins, reporting misuse of a blue badge. 3.3 Face to face service provision 3.3.1 The Customer Service Centre offers face to face support to customers where this is required. 3.3.2 Table 4 below shows the volume of customers who received face to face support during the month of February 2025.
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Table 4 – Face to Face Customer Volumes Service Total Customers Birth Registration 104 Marriage Registration 42 Licensing 21 TOTAL 167 4 Digital Service Provision 4.1 Digital Advisor (Millie) For the month of February, the Digital Advisor received 20,683 calls. Depending on the nature of the customers query, Millie will either provide an appropriate response to the customer or will transfer the customer to the correct advisor in the call centre. Table 5 below shows the performance levels for the month and year to date. Table 5 – Digital Advisor Performance Calls Received Transferred to Advisor Response Provided February 2025 20,683 14,309 (69%) 6,374 (31%) Year to Date 81,014 52,503 (65%) 28,511 (35%) The top 5 reasons for transfers, which account for 77% of all transferred calls are. Report a new housing repair 29% Recycling 14% Council Switchboard 13% Council Tax 12% Automated Payments 9% The team continue to monitor the performance of the digital advisor, and make regular changes to improve the overall effectiveness of the service. 4.2 Online Digital Services The Council continues to see a high level of requests processed through the online platform, with an additional 9,882 customers registered in the last year. The total number of registered users on the MyAccount platform is now 113,035. Since the start of the financial year, 211,176 online transactions have been completed, which is 21,581 higher than the same period last year.
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This increase is due to the launch of new services and could also be impacted by the introduction of the digital advisor. ___________________________________________________________________ Implications of the Report 1. Financial – None 2. HR & Organisational Development – None 3. Community/Council Planning – Working together to improve outcomes – An efficient and effective Customer Services Unit is vital to ensuring citizens have equality of access to Council services whether this is digitally, by telephone or face to face. 4. Legal - None 5. Property/Assets - None 6. Information Technology - None - 7. Equality & Human Rights - The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report because it is for consideration of performance only. 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Online Transactions 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25
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If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety – None 9. Procurement - None. 10. Risk - None 11. Privacy Impact - None 12. Cosla Policy Position – Non applicable. 13. Climate Risk – none. 14. Children’s Rights –The administration of Free School Meals and Clothing Grants has a positive impact on article 24 (Health, Water, Food, Environment) and article 27 (Food, Clothing, A Safe Home) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. _________________________________________________________ List of Background Papers (a) None. ___________________________________________________________________ Author: Gary Innes, Senior Service Delivery Manager (Customer and Digital Operations)