New Shropshire Council Customer Service Centre opening times to take effect

Shropshire Council’s Customer Service Centre opening times are changing from Monday, creating more time for targeted, outbound calling to boost preventative work.

Shropshire Council says as its digital offer grows, using improving technology, it is also seeking to encourage more people to use online services at a time that is convenient to them.

The change follows a public consultation earlier this year and an agreement by the council’s cabinet on 19 July. Feedback from residents and stakeholders has shaped the revised opening times so that the Customer Service Centre continues to meet the needs of residents whilst operating more efficiently.

The Customer Service Centre will remain open every weekday 9am-3pm, with extended opening until 6pm on a Monday for a trial period.

However, some parts of the Customer Service Centre handle complex issues for Shropshire’s residents, things like adult social care requests and queries, concerns for children, risk of homelessness or financial crisis affecting families. These types of contact from people will always need a skilled adviser and will not change.

The council’s Customer Service Centre handles phone calls and other forms of contact from residents for around 50 different council services. Many of the calls it handles are for non-urgent requests that can be made other ways, particularly online.

The new opening times for non-urgent calls will allow the council to free up capacity to make more targeted outbound calls to vulnerable residents, with the aim of preventing people from falling into crisis.

Robert Macey, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for culture and digital, said:

“The new opening times are a reasonable compromise, which would allow us to redirect resources towards more outbound calls.

“We have seen that these calls targeted to those most likely to need help can make a huge difference to a person’s health and wellbeing, and can avoid much more complicated interventions further down the line for the council and partners.

“More and more people are now requesting these non-urgent services online and we need to encourage even more people to do so because it’s simpler, quicker and more efficient. As well as improving outcomes for customers, this approach will help us to make spending reductions and save much-needed resources.

“The Customer Service Centre will remain open at its busiest times each weekday for those who want to speak to an adviser, while allowing us to redirect some advisers’ time to target those who need support and where it can make a huge difference.”