Peterborough’s Customer Service Centre rated as excellent again

This is the 11th year running that the customer services team has achieved the Customer Service Excellence accreditation - a national government standard which assesses and recognises organisations with outstanding performance in customer service.

Serco is responsible for providing customer service to local residents across a wide range of areas as part of its strategic partnership with the council - from organising and conducting specialist interviews for council tax and benefits to taking payments for bulky waste collections, or handling welfare benefit and social care enquiries.

In the past year the team has handled around 240,000 calls, 67,000 emails and 60,000 face-to-face visits from members of the public.

Serco underwent a rigorous assessment process over one-and-a-half days to demonstrate that it is working within the high standards required to achieve accreditation.

The team was judged on its ability to understand customer groups, measure customer satisfaction, its commitment to customer service, its standards for service quality and its ability to take prompt actions on any issues affecting customer service.

The Customer Service Excellence assessor commented: “Members of the public remain the main customer base. Other council services are seen as both key customers and partners who work closely with the service.”

The assessor spent time visiting the team’s new offices in Bridge Street, Sand Martin House at Fletton Quays and Peterborough Town Hall. The assessor described the changes as well managed, noting that staff have settled well into the new locations.

The assessor added: “As a result of staff hard work, customer satisfaction levels are again high and improving. Customer Services continues to be a very customer focused service. The service is fully compliant with the CSE standard.”

Cllr Mohammed Farooq, Peterborough City Council’s cabinet member for digital services and transformation, said: “I am absolutely delighted that Serco has once again achieved this prestigious ranking - it is testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved.

“As a council we deal with members of the public on a daily basis and are committed to ensuring that the service they receive is of the highest standard.”

Jeff Austin, Serco’s customer service centre manager, added: “It is a great achievement for the team to have retained this accreditation for the 11th year in a row.

“The assessment is very rigorous and no stone is left unturned to ensure we are delivering an excellent service to the residents of Peterborough. Everyone works very hard to ensure an excellent level of customer service is provided and it is fantastic to see the teams’ efforts recognised by an independent body.”