Council to permanently cut telephone hours

A local authority is set to drastically cut the hours of its public telephone line.

West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) plans to create “efficiency savings” by cutting the telephone contact hours to 09:00 to 14:00 BST, Monday to Friday.

A final decision on the proposal will be made at a cabinet meeting on 12 June, with a "continuous decline in customer demand” being cited as a key reason for the move.

The council said the plan would save it £125,000 each year.

The permanent plans follow a trial that began in October 2023, with the council saying at the time that they reflected the "changing needs" of customers.

It said the proposed changes would happen "without any mandatory redundancies".

A document prepared ahead of the meeting said: “Over the last few years, the council has been introducing new digital channels and improving those that already existed."

It highlighted a 350% increase of use for the council's digital channels, which has coincided with a fall in the number of telephone callers.

“The improvement in performance in those services [digital channels] means that the need for customers to make repeat calls has reduced; therefore further reducing telephone call volumes and improving the broader customer experience," it added.

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