Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Cllr Christine Howard, has welcomed a string of positive results for the Authority’s customer centric services.

Customer Service Excellence

This has included Customer Service Excellence (CSE) Standard accreditation for its Customer Services and Transactional & Financial service.

As well as providing the Council’s telephone contact centre service, One Stop Shops Bootle and Southport, this team administers, Housing Benefit and Council Tax support. It also manages billing and collection of Council Tax and Business Rates and deals with accounts payable & receivable.

Coveted Compliance Plus rating

After a rigorous assessment in February of this year, the team was praised for the professionalism, dedication, and customer focus. Four new areas of the service gained the coveted Compliance Plus rating, recognising exceptional performance.

Qualities mentioned included deep local insight and staff connection with residents, thorough training and strong data protection awareness, clear, accessible customer information and outstanding performance in tax collection.

High quality of service

Cllr Howard said: “I want to congratulate the service team on being rated so highly in this independent assessment and to thank them for the high quality of service they are providing for people and businesses in Sefton.

“Putting people at the heart of what we do is one of our key principles and with over 22 elements of the service now rated Compliance Plus, Sefton Council is continuing to set the benchmark for customer service excellence.”

Over 28,000 now registered for MyAccount

The Council Tax team has confirmed that over 28,000 residents and businesses have now registered for a My Account.

Customers are using the online portal to see how much they need to pay in Council Tax or Business Rates and when payments are due. They are also using My Account to apply for discounts and set up Direct Debits and reporting any changes online.

With almost 60% of these online back-office procedures now automated, changes are being processed within two weeks compared to up to 16 weeks at the same time last year.

You can find out more about My Account here. 

Call waiting times reduced by 38%

Additionally, customer call waiting times during the very busy Council Tax annual billing period over March and April, were reduced by over 38% compared to 2024, with 86% of all calls being dealt with.

And, thanks to the efforts of Bootle One Stop Shop team Taxi Licence new driver applications are now being processed within 10 working days of being received.

Easier and quicker

Cllr Howard added: “None of us can really say we enjoy paying our Council Tax, which provides essential funding for so many of the services the Council provides, but at least My Account is making it easier and quicker.

“And it’s contributing to huge improvements and cost savings in services, including for those people who do need to get in touch through our Contact Centre.  

“And I’m delighted that thanks to the new system introduce last years and the hard work of the Bootle One Stop Shop team, the backlog of Taxi Licence applications we had, has now been resolved.”