Call Centre Information

You can contact us by phone on 01822 813600.

Our contact centre team handle calls, emails and webchats for a wide range of Council services.

Call waits can vary from service to service.

Our aim is to answer 80% of calls within five minutes, and we are working hard to achieve this. However, for some services, calls often wait longer than we would like.

The busiest times in our call centre are between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., and over lunchtime. The busiest days are Monday and Tuesday, and it is usually the quietest on a Friday.

If you can call outside these times, you may have a shorter wait. Although the team answer queries about services across the Council, it is not a large team, so only a few additional calls can increase wait times.

You can find information about current wait times and call lengths for each service area below.

Council Tax, Business Rates and Benefits

75% of calls to this team are answered within 30 minutes.
The average call wait time is 10 minutes.
The average time to complete a call is about 12 minutes

Why do these calls have such a long wait time?

Council Tax, Business Rates and Housing Benefit calls are probably the most complex queries that we deal with. Information from customers often has to be updated and then cross-referenced with other service areas. Other departments and agencies often have to be notified.

Because the calls themselves take longer, it only takes a few people ringing in at the same time to increase the call wait time across the board.

We are tackling this issue in several ways and hope that we will soon see significant reductions in wait times:

We are working to train more of our contact centre staff to be able to handle these calls.
We are making other channels available for customers to contact us quickly and easily, including our webchat feature, Self-Service portal and our online enquiry service.
We are working to make the processes for updating other agencies and departments run more smoothly and efficiently.

Waste and Recycling

75% of calls to the Waste and Recycling team are answered within 7 minutes.
The average wait time is 2 minutes.
The average length of a call is 8 minutes.

Planning

75% of calls to the Planning Team are answered within 7 minutes
The average call wait time is 3 minutes
The average length of a call is 5 minutes

Parking

75% of calls to the Parking Team are answered within 15 minutes
The average call wait time is 6 minutes
The average length of a call is 5 minutes

Environmental Health

75% of calls to the Environmental Health Team are answered within 10 minutes
The average call wait time is 5 minutes
The average length of a call is 4 minutes

Housing and Devon Home Choice

75% of calls to the Devon Home Choice and Housing Team are answered within 8 minutes
The average call wait time is 2 minutes
The average length of a call is 9 minutes