‘We’ve been on the phone to you - for the past five years!’
Customer Service Advisors at Warwickshire County Council celebrated a special anniversary on Friday (23rd November) – they have officially been answering the phone to local residents for five years!
The advisors, who on average deal with around 850,000 queries from members of the public every year, held a ‘birthday party’ to mark the event, complete with balloons, party poppers, party hats – and the all important cake.
When the county council’s Customer Service Centre first opened in 2002, it employed just 17 members of staff, including nine telephonists and five advisors, on one single site in Warwick.
Today it employs a team of sixty, including six telephonists, 18 permanent advisors, 12 temporary advisors and 12 administrative support assistants.
It has also expanded across the county, with a second Customer Service Centre opening in Bedworth’s King’s House last year to support the original centre in Warwick’s Shire Hall.
In the past five years, it’s not just the number of staff and centres that have expanded. Initially, the Customer Service Centre was set up to take Trading Standards enquiries, issue disabled parking badges for Rugby and handle telephone calls for five of Warwickshire’s libraries.
But today, the team of specially trained advisors issue disabled parking badges for the whole of the county and handle telephone calls for 13 libraries around Warwickshire.
The advisors also carry out ‘over-the-phone’ adult care assessments and take enquiries about adult, health and community services, ‘Telecare’, the PHILLIS scheme, street lighting, highways, the council’s ‘Car Clear’ scheme, and calls to a domestic abuse helpline that will officially launch next week.
Councillor Peter Fowler, Portfolio Holder for Performance and Development, said: “I’m really pleased that we’re using this five year milestone to celebrate the successes of our customer service team.
“Our advisors work tirelessly to try and deal with all manner of enquiries, in what can be a very demanding role, as part of Warwickshire County Council’s commitment to raising standards of customer service and access to our services.”
Adrienne Bellingeri, who became the Customer Service Centre’s Manager in 2003, said: “In the past five years, we have established new jobs and expanded existing roles in the centre. I’m pleased to say that some of the people who were with us at the very start are still with us today.
“One of the highlights of the past five years has to be the opening of our second Customer Service Centre in King’s House in Bedworth. We are always looking to the future and how we can offer more services and better access to people across the county.”
Did you know…?
Each year, the Customer Service Centre deals with the following customer enquiries (in addition to switchboard enquiries):
• Adult care assessments – around 36,000 calls
• Disabled parking badges – around 20,700 calls
• Abandoned vehicles (via Car Clear scheme) – around 1,200 calls
• Libraries – around 111,600 calls
• Street lighting – around 7,450 calls
• Highways – around 42,800 calls
If you have an enquiry you think can be dealt with by Warwickshire County Council, call the Customer Service Centre on 01926 410410. The Centre is open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays and 9pm until 4pm on Saturdays.