§ Mr. ChisholmTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many telephone inquiries have been handled by the family credit helpline in each month since January 1996; [25638]
(2) what method the family credit unit has of recording how many callers failed to get through to the family credit helpline; and how many unsuccessful attempts were made to call the helpline in each month since January 1996. [25635]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyThe administration of Family Credit is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.
813WLetter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Malcolm Chisholm, dated 5 February 1998:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions asking how many telephone enquiries the Family Credit (FC) Helpline has answered in each month since January 1996; and what method the FC unit has of recording how many callers failed to get through to the FC helpline; and how many unsuccessful attempts were made to call the helpline in each month since January 1996.The FC Unit uses an Automated Call Distribution (ACD) system. Calls are automatically placed on a queuing system where the caller who has waited longest is answered by the first line to become free in the loop.The computerised ACD monitors and calculates daily statistics to show total calls answered and lost. However, statistics are then collated and held on a weekly basis.The information requested has therefore been provided for 4 and 5 week months and is shown at Annex 1 and 2 attached.I hope that you find this reply useful.
Annex 1: Number of telephone calls to the Family Credit Helpline Month 1996 Calls answered 1997 January 326,113 1258,373 February 260,832 229,166 March 1207,195 220,617 April 175,733 220,081 May 1184,141 1272,705 June 206,452 219,717 July 159,389 216,640 August 1169,037 1267,862 September 274,699 242,266 October 235,438 1272,019 November 1279,191 248,786 December 156,665 183,933 1 Months which contain details for 5 weeks. Figures are provisional and subject to change.
Annex 2: Number of unsuccessful telephone calls to the Family Credit Helpline Month 1996 Calls unanswered 1997 January 54,467 190,771 February 57,586 43,401 March 122,651 54,771 April 54,311 86,683 May 161,342 1114,113 June 25,089 1117,392 July 15,410 105,485 August 19,827 1128,010 September 87,049 115,065 October 77,530 1130,724 November 168,951 92,945 December 21,134 84,385 1 Months which contain details for 5 weeks Figures are provisional and subject to change.