Great Council Ripp Off Answer

Councillor Silvester, had this reply when he asked about the phone charges. Its one thing to change the numbers if people know what its going to cost them. It means some low income families will not be able to afford to call the council 

The contact strategy for Cheshire East is to use 0300 numbers for our published telephone numbers.  0300 numbers are also known as public trust numbers and are designated for use only by public bodies and non profit organisations. Calls to 0300 numbers cost no more than a national rate call to an 01 or 02 number and count towards any inclusive minutes in the same way as 01 and 02 calls. These rules apply to calls from any type of line including mobile, BT, other fixed line or payphone. 

This strategy was put in motion before vesting day with the publication of the golden number that I am sure you will be familiar with – 0300 123 5500.  Last June, we introduced a series of ‘essential numbers’ to enable customers to connect directly to the service they required without having to go through the switchboard.  The essential numbers have also allowed us to gradually close down the various legacy numbers from the previous authorities to reduce confusion and to reflect the ongoing harmonisation of services.  Most of the legacy numbers were geographic, i.e. 01625 or 01606, but I know that there were a very small number of non-geographic 0800 or 0845 numbers. 

We believe that the 0300 numbers represent the best value for both the Council and our customers, given they count towards any inclusive minutes from landline or mobile.  We typically answer calls in less than 20 seconds, but over the last few weeks we have had much extended wait times due to the unprecedented increase in call volume as a result of the changes to the waste and recycling collections in the south of the Borough.  This has resulted in wait times of 10 minutes or more at the busiest times which will probably explain the cost of the calls that Mr Wright experienced.  We are now seeing a return to typical call volumes for waste and recycling as the new collection schedule takes effect.