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A review into Broxtowe Council’s customer services has been published after its own councillors criticised performance, with one describing a particular area as an “abysmal failure”.

That scathing assessment was previously made by Coun Philip Owen, member for Nuthall East and Strelley, on the phone system, one of the most common issues raised by residents.

And Coun Jill Owen, member for Watnall and Nuthall West, said there was a ‘long list’ of officers who constituents could ‘never get through to’.

A review of Telephone Answering and Customer Services was published this month and was set to be discussed by the council as your Advertiser went to press.

Broxtowe Council's headquarters, in Beeston.

It states calls should be returned in one working day and 80 per cent of enquiries should be resolved at the first point of contact.

It put forward five recommendations which will be discussed by councillors, including that temporary staff are used during peak call times.

It also said officers should only use answerphone messages if they are away for no more than 24 hours and messages should be replied to the following working day.

The review found the service was ‘improving’ in the first three months of the year, due to a greater presence of customer services officers within the council building.

Coun Philip Owen, Broxtowe Council member for Nuthall East and Strelley.

“It was positive that there had been improving levels of call answering, but a fluctuation caused further concern,” the review states.

Rare £500,000 bungalow with six bedrooms in Ashfield village of Jacksdale

There were some concerns raised over the call abandonment rate, where the customer hangs up before they speak to an agent.

The review papers state: “The information had indicated sizeable call abandonment within housing operations and housing income. This was mainly due to the high calls in the first instance and areas where staffing was remote at times.

“Work was being undertaken to look at arrangements with customer services to support the call handling.

“Monthly reports on call abandonment would be sent to heads of services for greater scrutiny with individual staff and service delivery.”

The review into the telephone system and customer service was chaired by Coun Philip Owen, with Coun Marie Hannah, member for Eastwood St Mary’s, as vice-chairman.

Coun Philip Owen said the review into customer services would ‘run alongside’ a separate report into housing repairs in Broxtowe.

Review into Broxtowe Council’s customer services published after members slam ‘abysmal failure’