09/12/2008 New Phone Self-Delivery Service on Trial at Macclesfield
A telephone service is being trialled from Wednesday 8 December for calls about council tax, business rates & housing benefits. It will not replace MBC’s existing visitor or telephone services but will provide customers with another option, available 24/7.
The Council handles more than 58,000 phone calls about council tax, business rates and benefits each year. Up to a quarter of these calls could be handled by this “self-delivery” service, which is currently used successfully by many councils and has been specifically tailored for MBC.
A series of telephone “hotkeys” will swiftly take callers to the relevant sections covering topics such as payments, reminders/summonses, council tax issues, benefit forms, and business rate queries. There will also be a dedicated line to make direct payments.
MBC is trialling the service for four months on behalf of Cheshire East Council and a key part of judging its success will be the number of customers using it and whether their experience has been positive. A call-back campaign will gauge customer experience during this period and help to further refine the service.
Councillor Jane Palmer, Cabinet Member for Customer Services, says: “If it’s a success, Cheshire East will consider it for adoption. If you don’t want to use it, we will still answer your call in the usual way, but give it a try and give us some feedback to enable us to refine it. We will be notifying people in our customer correspondence.”
Council Tax - Telephone 01625 504810
Hot Key 1 - Make a payment, set up a direct debit and general advice on payments
Hot Key 2 - What to do if you have received a reminder, final notice, summons or court order notice of a bailiff’s visit
Hot Key 3 - Valuation bands, exempt dwellings, discounts, student discounts, disabled person reductions, moving house, general council tax information
Benefits - Telephone 01625 504898
Hot Key 4 – Benefits enquiries including request an application form.
Business Rates - Telephone 01625 504818
Hot Key 5 – Business Rates Enquiries
