Thousands of Shropshire Council calls unanswered
Friday 14th October 2011, 11:02AM BST.
THOUSANDS OF people who rang Shropshire Council with a query did not get their call answered last month, new figures show.
Only 74 per cent of the people who rang the authority in September managed to get through to someone, according to the council’s customer service performance summary for 2011.
During the month, 27,327 calls were answered by the council. However 9,600 calls were not dealt with.
Officials from Shropshire and Telford Trades Council, a local branch of the Trade Union Council, said the figures were much worse than at the beginning of the year.
Just five per cent of calls went unanswered in January, and the group said the figures showed front line services were being damaged, despite claims by council leader Keith Barrow that they would be protected.
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Well what do you expect if you cut staff numbers, cut working times, don’t replace people who have left and treat the employees like dirt.
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Nothing to do with cuts, as the call centre has eight vacancies it is trying to fill. This, together with staff holidays, CRM system no longer fit for purpose and calls taking longer to resolve (benefit changes), are the reasons for the delays.
The issues are well understood and corrective action is already being taken. We publish the figures and have nothing to hide and the new CRM replacement goes to cabinet later this month for sanction.
Our staff are excellent and are working their socks off!
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I rarely agree with councillors but as I said below, it makes a refreshing change that the council published this knowing that the figures were not perfect! Let’s see more of this! what does CRM mean?
I had to ring a week ago and had no problems! We should be grateful this call centre is in Shropshire with staff who know he area, the issues and continue to be friendly and polite even though as figures show, they must be under pressure.
Would you rather the council don publish this information good or bad?
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CRM = Customer Relationship Mgmt.
It’s the acronym for the computer and telephony systems used to handle & route calls in call centres & other areas of business where a large volume of direct ‘customer’ communication is required.
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M Taylor-Smith; these figures relate to the Customer Service Centre; CSC Advisors do not take calls on Council Tax and Benefits, you are misrepresenting these figures. Council Tax payers should not be deceived in this way.
If there are 8 vacancies, why are only two being advertised internally? And why did temporary staff – specifically employed to cover maternity – have their contacts terminated whilst other staff were still on maternity?
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Jan Foster/Aquaintance
The CRM (customers response management) software tracks the calls and records the call details etc. We had five separate systems and recently merged the benefits and ‘vulnerable people’ onto a common system. This contibuted to the degregation in service as the software has struggled to cope.
Fos example we have pre- recorded answers on some topics such as bin collections and when a caller rings off having heard the answer it is recorded as an unanswered call as they did not speak to an operator. This is distorting the data.
I was given the vacancy number on Wednesday and we are actively recruiting. If you have detailed questions feel free to contact Steph, the menager.
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fair play for publishing the figures.
i dont like the condem policies on many areas, but one thing they have got bang on to rights is the openess agenda, its so powerful for change to make people pubish data and expenditure, it really makes people think and act in the public interest
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Please do not take people for fools.Of course its partly to do with cuts.If staff have been lost from frontline services (and you know that they have from some departments with a high volume of enquiries)it is obvious that the call centre staff have difficulty in locating a member of staff who can help with the enquiry due to the remaining staff handling increased workloads. This means that they have to take longer to pass the call through whilst in the meantime other callers are being delayed.
Where are the eight vacancies currently being advertised or are they just being retained on staff structures to be lost quietly some time in the future or to be included in the redeployment pool.
I am sure the call centre staff would appreciate confirmation from yourself as to exactly when these posts will be filled i.e.next week would no doubt be appreciated by staff and callers.
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I can certainly confirm that – genuinely took over 2 hours to get through (4 attempts of half hour or so each.)
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Dont you just love call centrres ?
in the good old days i could ring SABC and speak to a manager in seconds, every time
now its computer says NO
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i think this a question of front line morale being damaged, not staffing levels.
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I work for the council (which is why I hope you’ll understand that I won’t publish my name). Low morale is a huge factor in my dept, we get no support from management with any issues. We are asked in meetings what we feel can be done to raise morale, we have gone to meetings with lists of ideas but every single one of them is either ignored or dismissed because it does not fall in line with management ideas! To all the people out there who criticise us, would you work for a place which ignores your ideas on how to make it a better work place so you can help customers? To work where your pay is getting cut, where you get told of changes which only add to the pressure you are under and all of this where the majority of your calls are complaints which you had nothing to do with but are getting shouted at to deal with them? I am thankful for my job but that does not mean I deserve to be s*** upon from every angle. Maybe try to speak to management to see where they get their ideas from when they have no idea how it will affect people!
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Always open to ideas. Feel free to contact me (anonymously if you wish).
Martin
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I am afraid that the fear of being the subject of a witch hunt if you are found to be questioning senior management prevents staff putting their heads above the parapet.Whilst your offer to treat any ideas in confidence is a gesture that staff would appreciate when you have a Chief Executive and Directors whose sole purpose is to reduce staff numbers irrespective of the impact on services and the welfare of the remaining staff it is in the individuals interests to keep mute or attempt to remain anonymous.
It is safer therefore to listen to the management churn out the current corporate buzzwords e.g.park it, revisit,silo culture,I hear what you say etc etc nod or look at the floor at the appropriate time and conform accordingly and hope you are not already marked for redundancy in the next wave of cuts.
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It just shows that the people who do the work are loosing their jobs while the expensive management are keeping theirs. Perhaps if they laid off half the management they could hire more front line staff, keeping up services and lowering the unemployed totals.
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not good
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Rang yesterday and got through after a 1 min, most questions can be answered on line, most payments can be done through automated lines etc.
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But that was clearly on an internal line.
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I rang with regards a council tax issue, week before that i rang with regards a highways issue all handled well and quick, and the highways dept rang me back twice .
However i am still waiting for a reply from an email with regards refuse collection 5 weeks and still waiting
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my experience of ringing about missed refuse bin in the winter is pathetic, the people there have a serious attitude problem and are frankly just rude
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Just because it is not the answer you want does not mean it is the incorrect answer! There are certain procedures that need to be met during extreme circumstances, such as snow in winter, for Health and Safety reasons. Surely it is better to miss a collection than have an 80 tonne waste lorry crash into your house!
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@Rodders: an 80 tonne waste lorry??!! Do they use Jawa Sandcrawlers round your neck of the woods?
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80 tonne!! lol
RODDERS you are WRONG!!
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put them on performance related pay and they will answer them then
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The issue is not call centre staff not answering the phone. The automated telephony system is putting people in a queue. If the queue is too long, the customer is told to phone back. That is treated as a missed call. If officers are out on a job, and the phone mailbox is full, that is also a missed call. This is not staff deliberately failing to pick up and performance related pay would make no difference.
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Don’t think this is news – things have never been any better in the past 30 years. Staff seem too busy discussing their social life instead of speaking to the ‘customers’ who are treated as just an occupational hazard.
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Fair play to them for being open and honest!
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The old system, when there was a switchboard was much better. Calls were answered promptly and then one was put through to the correct department. Now one ends up with a load of stupid music and adverts for the services of the Council that one can access on-line. If I’d wanted that service I would have used it.
It makes no difference when one rings – just after nine, mid morning, lunchtime, or afternoon. The Council is always experiencing a high volume of calls and then the adverts for the Council’s services on-line start again. If one manages to have the patience of Job, when one is finally answered, one gets through to a numbskull in the call centre who doesn’t have a clue about Shropshire or which Council department does what. How much has this fiasco cost us all?
Scrap the call centre and sack the staff – it is a total waste of money, for which I and every other Council Tax payer here in Shropshire is paying.
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One? Thought there were a lot more than that…. ;)
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You Sir, are a moron. I assume you’re one of the people moaning that there are too many people on benefits because they don’t have a job and now you want to make more people unemployed by sacking them. Come up with a constructive comment instead of just critising people. The people on the front line work damn hard with no help from people above who are constantly cutting services and heaping more pressure on them.
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Well it just shows what you get when tories run the council, this is a front line service not a back office function its most folks main contact with the council so it makes an impression… a bad one…
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It is hardly the fault of the present Councillors who have had to sort out the financial mess left behind by the previous administration. When will those on the Left and the Liberal Democrats realise that you cannot continue to keep overspending to provide this service or that. The money simply isn’t there. It never has been.
Over the past twenty odd years every spring we have witnessed the County Council, in whatever guise, saying it will have to cut this provision or that service. There are then the predictable howls of outrage from vested interest groups and the Council digs into its reserves yet again to continue funding its operations. Those reserves are finite. Either people pay more for their Council Tax (which nobody wants) or services are curtailed.
Sooner or later this profligacy catches up, as now, with those who continue living in Never Never Land, be it a government, a council or an individual.
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I work for the council, and we used to have 7 staff in our team this has been reduced to 3 ( they were told to go if get my drift)
So in my office the work load remains the same, actually demand for our service to the public has increased for some reason.
We answer as many telephone calls as we can I between dealing with face to face enquiries, but many of the calls go unanswered, we also have to go out of the office to various locations throughout Shropshire and deal with issues. Our paper work is now 3 months behind, and growing.
Our front line service has been reduced considerably, on top of this we are unable to attend important meetings with other outside agencies etc. that also has an effect on our service not to mention our morale and job satisfaction.
Don’t even get me started on our budget which has been reduced by 90% , you know, we have office equipment just lying around broken because we haven’t got the money to have it repaired.
We do have some empty desks and chairs if anyone would like them!
So please don’t listen to the people when they say things will remain the same because they won’t
I wish I could finish on a happier note but I can’t and although many members of the public will not feel the immediate effect of our team being butched, it will slowly drift down until one day those who despise the public sector will turn around and say …. Whats happened to the….or why don’t we have any…..
That’s because this front line service has been cut.
Ask yourself this question, during the 18 months that this government has been in power has your standard of living increased or decreased?
Gary
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I have had a look at the statistics on Shropshire Councils website and would say they are commendable on the one hand for their openess but have perhaps been unwise in not providing context. I have to say when ever I have contacted the Customer Service Centre the advisers have always been very helpful and knowledgable. It is easy to make sweeping statements about ” call centres” but these are real people trying to do what I imagine is a difficult job.
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There was a press release to go with the data which appears to have been missed. I will follow up on Monday.
Martin
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I absolutely do not blame the staff. It is their management. 200 jobs have been lost since January. This will definitely have an effect on customer service. Keith Barrow on his Twitter account says they are having problems recruiting. I wonder why. Is it because they don’t treat their staff well? Perhaps Cllr M Taylor-Smith can answer that one!
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How slack.
Too busy making tea no doubt.
In the private sector they would be sacked for this.
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What a compassionate person you are. These are people doing the best they can under difficult circumstances.
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Doubt might enter into your argument if you try to call a private company about your utilities, insurance, banking arrangements, etc.
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I agree with the post about context, Shropshire Council could you do this? I still think people are not recognising the good side of this which is that Shropshire Council has taken a massive step in putting this info out there and facing up to this. Whoever was behind this idea should bee commended! I as a council tax payer in Shropshire hope to see more of this openess in Shropshire for better or worse!
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Well said! I would like the Shropshire Star to run a positive story on the person who thought to do this! They are a genious! They must have known you would pick up on it and run a story but were brave enough to do it anyway ..!
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Prees release somehow got decoupled from data publishing. Will chase up on Monday.
Martin
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in the private sector things would be much better run, the calls would be answered because the customer is king, this is the problem with those lazy public sector workers, they forget who is boss. I pay their wages so I am their boss and they need to up their game and start to do more work.
The solution to this is obvious. They need to get a private firm in to run the phones. More efficiency cannot be delivered by public sector workers who are over paid and under worked
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What a stupid comment.
Every private sector call centre I have dealt with is dreadful.
1. Mobile phone sales teams who call all hours to sell. Frequently using automated calling and often resulting in silent calls.
2. Banks. That have moved their call centres offshore. Difficulty in getting through and understanding and being understood by the call centre worker.
3. Power companies, travel firms, insurers, all keeping you in a queue “your call is important to us etc…”
The only company that actually answers quickly and helpfully is my ISP Madasafish which has relocated back to UK from India.
I feel great pity for the SCC call centre staff having to read some of the vitriolic comments from the uninformed keyboard warriors who have a dig at anything “public sector”. Next time you post perhaps you could let us know which organisation you work for and how you are better than those you are critical of. Evidence based rather than simplistic assertions.
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I’ve always loved this argument! You do realise that council workers pay the same percentage of Council Tax as you do?
We contribute as much to our own salaries as you do, making me as much of my boss as you are…bog off and troll somewhere else!
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why is veryone ringing the council?
i never ring them
in fact i cant think i have ever dealt with them but if i did i’d go online to do it as i do with all my banking. I just cant stand callcentres so it is better for me that way. If more people did things online it would reduce council tax too. the council should incentivise this IMO e.g. 10% off council tax if you pay by DD, surely this would be self funding in terms of reduced admin?
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I agree, whoever published these figures has made the council leaders go up in my estimation tenfold. I think trust is a real issue for the council atm with people being cynical about their agenda. This sort of transparency is to be commended and is an example of excellent customer service imo. It’s better to put info out warts and all than have a freedom of information request in the future make it look like things are being hidden! give SC a break :/ I’ll give you some context, try ringing one of the big utility companies or your bank and see how long you’re kept waiting in comparison!
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Whenever i have called the council ive never had any problem getting through at all. As a died in the wool labour man I never thought I would say this but the council leader is to be applauded for putting out accurate information to the people of Shropshire and other organisations would do well to follow this example – most members of the public are not idiots and can actually assimilate this information without jumping to conclusions that are simply not true.
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why would they care they are having their pay cut i dont suppose they are very motivated to work at the moment are they
it will take years to undo the cuts of barrow and rerecruit some decent staff again
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The public sector is notoriously slack compared tothe private sector if this was a private business with profits to keep up the slack staff at the council would have all been sacked and replaced with harder working employee’s.
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“The public sector is notoriously slack compared to the private sector if this was a private business with profits to keep up the slack staff at the council would have all been sacked and replaced with harder working employees.”
What complete rubbish. When have you ever phone a mobile phone company, energy company etc. and got through quickly, to someone you could understand and who could understand you, and had your issue sorted out efficiently?
If you don’t like the way the council answers calls, try Vodafone, and good luck.
Don’t think I ever have.
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The customer service figures have always been published on the Shrops Council website. It’s just that since January, when 200 jobs were lost, the service has deteriorated. I don’t believe it’s to do with a new system – that’s just bluff. I DO believe that front-line cuts to jobs are affecting front-line services.
There’s no getting away from it – no matter how many councillors come on here and argue against it.
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Is it the 100% rise in allowances councillors were awarded when we went unitary that is making M Taylor -Smith sell himself as the voice of the council.
If private businesses had as much spent on PR (which is all councillors are) they would go bust. The council however it seems can always fund the elected members from us taxpayers yet not afford the real staff who do the actual work.
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What utter tosh! I am happy to answer questions on my portfolio or ward. And it has nothing to do with money. Officers and councillors work together to deliver services. Yes councillors are effectively a sales force as well, for both our electorate and council.
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What utter tosh? I really do not think that a councillor should be addressing council taxpayers in such a derogatory fashion.
If we have concerns, those concerns should be addressed in a respectful manner. That is what we expect from a councillor. Is there a standards board?
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Respect should be both ways and is earnt. The call centre is nothing to do with allowances paid to councillors, which Eva land brings up each week. See above for the latest repetition.
As commented by others I am happy to engage with the electorate in a constructive manner. If you want us to be honest, open, etc. shooting at us every time we put our head above the parapet is unlikely to encourage others to public service.
After all we too are taxpayer, residents etc.
Martin
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MTS – Councillors must follow a code of conduct which states that ‘blogs’ etc should not be personal and respect should be given at all times. I would say that answering a resident’s comments with ‘what utter tosh’ does not comply with this code of conduct. Neither does the time you told a resident on Twitter to ‘get back to running your shop’.
The fact is you have to show residents respect even if they haven’t earnt it in your eyes. It’s called being a responsible councillor.
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Council taxpayer – well said. What’s wrong with politics is we don’t respect politicians because of things like this. They need to earn OUR respect, not the other way round.
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This is part of the press release that went out last week.
Shropshire Council is committed in wanting to help people do their council business as quickly, conveniently and easily as possible. Although the Council’s Customer Service performance summary 2011, launched this week showed a slight decrease in the number of calls answered, this is due to an increase in the number of services being moving over to our customer contact centre and an increase in the length of calls due to their complexity.
In line with our drive for better customer services the Council will be putting forward a proposal at a Special Cabinet meeting on Thursday 27 October to introduce a new central system that can be used by all services and departments across the Council and, over time, is intended to provide a single point of contact for all customer enquiries. By providing an integrated product Shropshire Council will be able to provide improved customer services over a number of channels allowing residents to access services via the internet as well as by telephone.”
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What utter tosh! (I can say it, but you can’t (or shouldn’t!)
Would you have issued this press release if the trades council hadn’t got there first about the degradation in service – which has happened since Jan this year, not just since you implemented your ‘new system’.
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Go Shropshire Council and dont let this stop you! I have to say that as a council tax payer publishing this info will stop needless FOI requests coming in which will be saving vital resource! Other councils should take note!
I have to say as well that ringing private sector companies is more often than not an awful experience. At least when i phone my council i speak to local people!
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I have been looking around at other councils statistics and most are in line with those published by Shropshire.
I think we should just look at the conversation above and be pleased that it came from published stats aa opposed to hidden ones…
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Could Shropshire Council please tell us how many calls on average each member of staff took in August and September? Perhaps then the people who are saying the staff spend time gossiping etc will be proved wrong!
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or right?
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Usually between 70 and 100 people a day depending on the nature of the calls.
When it snows it can be as high as 120 people.
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It’s amazing all these people saying the private sector is better.
How many times have you rang Water companies,
Telecom companies, Mobile phone companies, Insurance companies and had your call answered straight away and not been told to press 1 for this an 2 for that.
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So councillors are awarded 100% increase in allowances.
Councillors announce they will take a cut of 5% to show they are suffering along with the salaried council staff.
Staff are not given 100% pay rise but are given ultimatum to take 5% cut in pay and accept new contracts affecting pensions etc or get out.
Reduction in staff means workloads are increased so less pay, less pension more work pressure.
Councillors are angry that they are having a cut in fuel allowance which has for some reason always been more than council employees.
You sold this threat to the staff extremely effectively as unemployment is not a good option at the moment especially if you haven’t a second income. (like being a councillor for example).
Quite what value councillors are to the electorate I’m not so sure. What are you actually selling apart from yourselves?
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All people have to do is vote councillors out in the next local elections get loads of independent candidates to stand and you can actually achieve your aim of removing certain party councillors. All it needs is a little get up and go by joe public but hey this is the uk don’t do that .
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See above. The data and press release was issued at the same time. Somehow it was decoupled and only a Union quote printed.
The performance was fine until the merger of benefits etc in the last few months.
As state previously we understand what needs to be done, including filling the vacancies. This idip in performance is no reflection on our staff, who as stated previously are working their socks off!
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Here’s the link to the customer service stats. See for yourself whether the service was ‘fine until the last couple of months’. You may find otherwise – that the service was fine in January and then since then has gradually deteriorated. http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/customerservice.nsf/open/5CC04F1CACD75710802579260045223A
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Of course the staff are working their socks off – they’re having to work harder to replace those who have left.
And I think you’ll find the union ‘quote’ was a press release. It’s about time you started telling the truth.
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Much as though I hate it I am with you on this one Andrew!
Get the politics out of local government.
People should be voted in on merit not party politics which in general, are irrevelent around here all labour councillors being tories anyway.
Councillors are driven by self interest at taxpayers expense and they should not be able to keep office for more than 10 years otherwise it leads to corrupt practices.
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Councillors have to adhere to a code of conduct, which includes ‘not being personal’ in blogs and they should show respect. I personally don’t think this is the case here.
Complain here: http://bit.ly/qxkyb6
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I’m known on this site as a complainer a raciest and a moaner, but speak my mind. I had reason to telephone Shropshire Council, so this is my experience. Rang the telephone number that was in the book, after 3 Min’s. spoke to a man, told him I wished to speak to any person in the Street naming department, in a matter of seconds I was speaking to a lady, she answered all my questions in a professional manner and also gave me advise. had I been in her office I’m sure that she would have had a smile on her face. So well done Shropshire Council 10/10.
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I have been trying to get through to cancel my single occupancy council tax so trying to give them something. I’ll end up having to pay “back pay” to them at this rate! I rarely need to ring the council although when I have previously there has never had a problem getting through. Thought it most peculiar that phone not being answered but now I know! A little annoying but I don’t blame the call takers who are clearly under pressure from reducing staff numbers. I haven’t been able to work out if ‘vacancies’ mentioned have actually been advertised due to the classic politicians answer of Martin Taylor who I have worked out is a councillor. Surely if the jobs had been advertised there would be loads of interest – even if temporary work, unemployed people would rather have a temporary job as opposed to the alternative being the dole queue? Have the 8 vacancies been advertised or not? I’ll have to write to offer them some more council tax – let’s hope they’ve got people opening the mail! Shropshire council workers-you are appreciated.
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Hail the Finch for he is the messiah!. I think you should stand Andrew. A no nonsense chap like you is what’s needed right now. I totally agree that this current lot couldn’t do a worse job if, if….well they just couldn’t do a worse job.
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Respect should be both ways and is earnt. The call centre is nothing to do with allowances paid to councillors, which Eva land brings up each week. See above for the latest repetition.
As commented by others I am happy to engage with the electorate in a constructive manner. If you want us to be honest, open, etc. shooting at us every time we put our head above the parapet is unlikely to encourage others to public service.
After all we too are taxpayer, residents etc.
Martin
Read more: http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/10/14/shropshire-council-calls-unanswered/#ixzz1bFvOQZsJ
You would do well to remember those fine sentiments next time you speak with ALL staff…not just those that work in the West Wing.
Respect does indeed work both ways !
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Respect should be both ways and is earnt. The call centre is nothing to do with allowances paid to councillors, which Eva land brings up each week. See above for the latest repetition.
As commented by others I am happy to engage with the electorate in a constructive manner. If you want us to be honest, open, etc. shooting at us every time we put our head above the parapet is unlikely to encourage others to public service.
After all we too are taxpayer, residents etc.
Martin
Read more: http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/10/14/shropshire-council-calls-unanswered/#ixzz1bG5XADiT
Respect is indeed earnt. You would do well to remember that when you are conversing with council staff who dare to have opinions different to your own
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Disgraceful level of service from the so called 5 star council, they couldnt run a drinking session in a brewery, sack them all and give us back our council tax i say, if we really truely want any of these services we can buy them in at half the price
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