Sefton Council's Customer Services team dealt with more than 274,000 enquiries in a single year, according to recent figures.

Enquiries and service requests

Between April 2025 and March 2026, the team handled 274,104 enquiries and service requests from people across the borough. These were received by phone, email, webchat and through the Council's One Stop Shops.

Customer Services staff help residents with a wide range of issues, including Council Tax, benefits, waste and recycling, Blue Badges, adult social care and taxi licensing.

Staff at the Council's Contact Centre answered 194,462 phone calls. They also helped people during 47,849 face-to-face visits to One Stop Shops, 26,397 emails and 5,396 webchats.

Additionally, the team responds to enquiries made through social media.

High levels of customer satisfaction

Surveys carried out during 2025 show high levels of customer satisfaction. Everyone who responded said they were either satisfied or fairly satisfied with the support they received from Customer Service Advisors. Nearly all respondents also said they were satisfied with their overall experience of dealing with the Council through Customer Services.

The busiest areas for telephone enquiries were switchboard services, revenues, cleansing services, adult social care and benefits. For people visiting One Stop Shops, the most common reasons for contact were taxi licensing, Council Tax, benefits, Blue Badges and parking services.

Customer Service Excellence accreditation retained

The Customer Service team's success has also been recognised independently. They successfully retained the nationally recognised Customer Service Excellence accreditation for 2026.

The assessment highlighted the service's strong customer focus, high-quality information and support, and commitment to continuous improvement. The report concluded that the service demonstrates a high level of professionalism and recommended continued accreditation.

Our staff are there

Cllr Christine Howard, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, said: "Every week our Customer Services team is helping people from across Sefton and beyond to access the information and Council services they need.

“Whether someone contacts us by phone, email, webchat, in person or through social media, our staff are there to provide advice, information and support."

"Handling more than 274,000 enquiries in a year shows both the demand for our services and the hard work of our teams.

“I'm especially pleased to see the very high satisfaction levels reported by residents, which reflect the dedication of our staff and their commitment to providing a helpful and professional service.

“Well done to the team."

Contact Centre and One Stop Shops

The Council currently operates Customer Services through its Contact Centre as well as One Stop Shops in Bootle and Southport. Support is available throughout the working week, with out-of-hours arrangements in place for emergency situations and critical services.

Despite dealing with hundreds of thousands of enquiries each year, the number of formal complaints relating to Customer Services remains low. During 2025/26, the Council received 18 Stage 1 complaints and one Stage 2 complaint relating to Customer Services.

The Customer Services team continues to look at ways to improve services and make it easier for residents to access support, ensuring people can get help through in the best way that works best for them.

Ways to improve and make things easier for residents

Cllr Howard added: “While we provide support in this way through Customer services, we're always looking for ways to improve and make things easier for our residents. Information about our services is available through our website at www.sefton.gov.uk, and our social media channels.

“We also send out thousands of emails to people who have subscribed to our e-shot service so that the get the latest from us direct to their inbox.

“And we aim to help people get online by providing free access to computers and Wi-Fi at our libraries.”

You can find out more about ways to get online at www.sefton.gov.uk/online.

You can sign up to the free e-shot e-mail news service here.