Slough Borough Council left more than half of calls unanswered

More than half of the 83,404 calls to the council went unanswered between January and May 2022

More than half of the 83,404 calls made by the public were left unanswered, a council has admitted.

Slough Borough Council said of the calls it received between January and May this year, only 43% were picked up.

The council, which declared bankruptcy last year, said wait times could last 45 minutes but on average people had to wait just over 14. But, some residents said they waited over an hour.

The council said it was planning to restructure its customer service team.

It blamed a lack of resources and dependency of interim staff, who needed re-training, for the service's decline, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

The council says it has taken on 18 extra temporary staff and will restructure its customer service team

Councillor Safdar Ali said the council had reported a 55% increase in picking up calls from April 2022, but said this was "not an improvement".

"During the recent local election when we went door-to-door, nearly 90% said when they tried to get in touch with the council, they couldn't do so because there was nobody to answer the phone," he said.

Mohammed Ishtiaq, of the council, said since it declared bankruptcy, "a lot" of back-office services had been either closed down or moved to email communication.

Customer focus groups

The council was placed under government supervision last year after two reports revealed a catalogue of failings that included rising debts.

Council bosses plan to restructure the customer service team to make sure it has enough resources and capacity to make improvements.

Current processes will be reviewed and customer-led focus groups will be held, LDRS reported.

Eighteen temporary customer service advisors have been recruited, taking the workforce to 54, the authority said.

The former call centre in Landmark Place is set to be converted into 89 flats after it was closed in March 2020.

A new centre is now operating on the ground floor of the council's headquarters Observatory House.