We listened to you

You said...

In a customer survey you said you would like to be able to report changes in circumstances to the Benefit office over the telephone.

We did...

We provided training to our Customer Service Officers in the Contact Centre and introduced a facility for customers to report changes by telephone.

You said...

You said you would like additional dates in the month to pay council tax by direct debit.

We did...

We added an additional date to give customers more choice of when their payment is made.

You said...

You said you didn’t understand what would happen to your benefit claim if you didn’t provide missing information by the due date.

We did...

We made our request for information letters clearer to tell you when the information was due, what would happen if you didn’t provide it and what to do if you were having difficulty getting the information.

You said...

You said that the benefit claim form and receipt are too long and hard to understand.

We did...

We have started looking at our receipt and claim form and will be asking customers for their views about the new designs before we start using them.  In the meantime, we have introduced a short guide to the proof you need to provide with your particular claim.

You said...

You said that our letters need to be clearer and in plain English.

We did...

We have started to look at our standard benefit letters to make sure they are easy to understand and all our benefit officers will receive training over the next few months on how to write letters that are plain and clear.