Customer Services opening hours in the new Northamptonshire unitary authorities

Closed 23 Aug 2020

Opened 27 Jul 2020

Contact

futurenorthants@northamptonshire.gov.uk

Feedback updated 14 May 2021

We asked

Update on 14 May 2021: The links below have been updated following the transfer of committee meetings to the West Northamptonshire Council Moderngov website.

Prior to 1 April 2021, each sovereign council in the West Northamptonshire area had their own customer services opening hours.

In June 2020, the Programme Delivery Group approved in principle the harmonisation of hours for customer services opening hours for the North and West Northants subject to consultation with the public on preferred hours.

The consultation was limited to four options to manage expectations and enable the customer services opening hours to be harmonised with minimal impact on resources. Respondents had the options of:

  • 8:30am to 4:30pm
  • 9:00am to 5:00pm
  • 9:30am to 5:30pm
  • I don’t mind

The ‘Customer Services opening hours in the new Northamptonshire unitary authorities’ survey took place from the 27 July to 23 August 2020.

You said

In total, the ‘Customer Services opening hours in the new Northamptonshire unitary authorities’ survey received 1,225 responses from residents of Northamptonshire.

Feedback on preferences:

  • 8:30am to 4:30pm preference – 157 responses
  • 9:00am to 5:00pm preference – 181 responses
  • 9:30am to 5:30pm preference – 131 responses
  • I don’t mind / no preference – 151 responses

There was a clear preference of 9:00am to 5:00pm from respondents in West Northamptonshire.

We did

On Tuesday 27 October 2020, the West Northamptonshire Shadow Executive Committee approved the recommended customer services opening hours of 9:00am to 5:00pm for West Northamptonshire Council.

The analysis of consultation feedback alongside the telephony call volume data informed the recommended opening hours.

For more information about the approval of the customer services opening hours for West Northamptonshire Council, please see the:

Overview

The 'Customer Services opening hours in the new Northamptonshire unitary authorities' engagement activity ran from 7 July to midnight on 23 August 2020 on the Future Northants Consultation Hub as part of preparations for the formation of West Northamptonshire Council.

The engagement activity has been added to the West Northamptonshire Consultation Hub as a matter of record and to provide feedback on how consultation responses assisted decision making.

The way local government services are delivered is changing in Northamptonshire - and we want you to help shape those services.

The eight existing councils – Wellingborough, Corby, Daventry, East Northants, Kettering, Northampton, Northamptonshire County and South Northants – will be replaced with two brand new unitary councils on 1 April 2021. At the moment, you contact Northamptonshire County Council for services such as Adult Social Care, Children’s Social Care and schools and your local district or borough council for services such as waste and recycling, Council Tax, Housing and Planning.

You can do this in a number of ways - many services can be accessed online at any time and any day of the week and this will continue when the new unitary councils go live on 1 April 2021.

You can also contact your local council in person, by dropping into one of the customer service centres.

Each of the councils also has a customer service telephone line which allows customers to call with enquiries or requests.

Over the next few pages, we'd like to ask you some questions about the opening hours for customer services in the new unitary councils when they go live, thinking about the opening hours now and how they might change in the future. This will not affect the out of hours contact for services such safeguarding and homelessness.

Your feedback will help us to design customer services in the new North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council.

Interests

  • Engagement activities
  • Your council