County Council customer service centre near Hucknall praised for answering over a million enquiries during the pandemic

The county council's customer service centre, which is located just outside of Hucknall in Annesley, has been praised after answering more than a million enquiries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The figure features in statistics released by the county council examining how the centre responded to people getting in touch by telephone, email and online over the last 18 months.

Despite the high number of queries, people only had to wait an average of 46 seconds before getting assistance from a member of staff.

Personnel Committee Chairman, Councillor Gordon Wheeler, said: "Answering over a million enquiries is no easy task and the customer service centre should be very proud of the remarkable work it has carried out.

"The service it has delivered during the pandemic can only be described as exemplary.

"The pandemic was a horrendous and stressful experience for many, and the help our customer services team offered would have made a tangible difference to countless lives in Nottinghamshire.

"Because of our team, the council has helped people get answers on services including children and adult social care, school places, food vouchers and local roads, but perhaps most importantly on COVID-19 and the support available."

COVID-19 help offered by the customer service centre included arranging care and support for vulnerable individuals shielding and providing information and answers about vaccines and vaccination centres.

Customer service centre staff also worked closely with NHS Test and Trace to help stop the spread of the virus, including reaching people that the national system was unable to contact.

Group manager of complaints and information, Marie Rowney, said: "Our customer services team really stepped up during the pandemic and were happy to be on hand to answer people's queries and to provide that much-needed support, particularly to those who were isolating for such a long time.

"The team took part in some outstanding partnership work with NHS colleagues to help keep Nottinghamshire residents safe and informed.

"I cannot praise our customer service team highly enough."