Press Release - Using call centres to deliver public
services
11 December 2002
Government call centres in general provide a service which is
good value for money and over three quarters of callers are
satisfied with the services they receive but some centres need to
do more to meet the public demand, Sir John Bourn, head of the
National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today. He also
recommended that all call centres ensure that they have reliable
information on both their costs and performance so that they make
sure that they are delivering an effective service.
83% of people who had phoned a government call centre were
satisfied with the service, a survey carried out for the National
Audit Office revealed. The survey also showed that 60% of the
public are willing to get advice and services by phone. This
compares to 40% who said that they were willing to use the
Internet.
On average, 84% of calls are answered within 20 seconds by
either an automated system or an agent. But some centres at certain
times cannot cope with the number of calls they receive. For
example, although 94% of callers to the Child Benefit Centre
Enquiry Line are satisfied with the service they receive, over
twice as many calls are met with an engaged tone as are answered.
Ways in which demand can be better managed include better
deployment of staff, encouraging callers to use quiet times and
improved IT support.
About a third of call centres’ calls cost the government less
than £1 per call minute. The National Audit Office identified three
whose calls cost more than £5 per minute. The most expensive of
these was Equality Direct whose calls cost the government £27 per
minute. Nearly a fifth of call centres did not have information on
their costs and almost half could not provide information to
calculate their cost per call minute. Without such information,
call centres cannot determine whether their costs are
reasonable.
The government should provide better information for the public
on the services which they can obtain by telephone. There is no
single directory of call centres. Helplines could be advertised
more effectively. Only 14% are advertised in phone books which is
the first place people could be expected to look.
Call centres should use a range of measures to assess the
quality of their service. The accuracy and reliability of the
information provided is a vital element. The NAO found that
measures to monitor the quality of information, such as mystery
shopping or systematic analysis of recorded calls, were among the
least used.
Sir John said today,
"Call centres can provide services and information in a
way that is convenient and cost effective and most of the public
tell us that they are willing to use them. There is a generally
good picture of a public that is mostly satisfied with the service
received from government call centres. However, there is room for
improvement. In particular, the call centres need to collect full
and reliable information about their services and departments need
to be sure that efficiency and quality are really being
delivered."
Notes for Editors
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at http://www.nao.org.uk/ Hard copies can
be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office employing some 750 staff. He and
the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 77/02
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