Child Benefit Centre: Telephone Contact (Hansard, 30 June 1997)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)

One of our key aims is to improve the service provided to claimants and other customers. Queries on Benefits Agency operational matters are the responsibility of Peter Mathison, its Chief Executive. He will write to the noble Lord.

Letter to Earl Russell from the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, Mr. Peter Mathison, dated 26 June 1997.

I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking about the procedure for contacting the Child Benefit Centre (CBC) by telephone.

The CBC is aware of the difficulties customers are experiencing in trying to contact the Centre by telephone. For some time now the centre has been receiving an increasing number of telephone enquiries and, in recognition of this growing demand, a centralised Teleservice for all Child Benefit customers was introduced.

The Teleservice is not simply an answering service. It is aimed at dealing with as many calls as possible at the point of contact without the need to refer the caller to another section. All teleoperators have received specific training in call handling and a continuous process of review, designed to maximise the number of calls taken from customers, is in place.

Latest statistics show that 36,000 calls per week are being answered. This equates to 1.87 million calls per annum. Additional staff have been recruited to work in the Teleservice area and it is estimated that the Teleservice operation will be able to deal with 2.22 million calls per annum.

The centre is examining current working practices in order to maximise efficiency. As part of this programme, consideration is being given to the possible expansion of the Teleservice area of the business and also extending the working hours of the unit.

I hope this has helped to reassure you that the agency is taking positive action to improve customer service.