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Jan 20, 2012 -- The opening hours of Bolton Council’s One Stop Shop are to be reduced, saving money, and meaning more staff are around to deal with people at peak times.

Half an hour will be shaved from the start and end of the day at the centre, based in the town hall.

The One Stop Shop currently opens from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and on Saturday mornings. It will now open at 8.30am and close at 5.30pm.

The move, which will save money in IT costs, will not affect the Saturday opening hours.

A review of the service showed that in 2010/11, 351 people visited the shop between 8am and 8.30am and 131 people between 5.30pm and 6pm, equivalent to just one in every 100 visitors.

A report by the council’s assistant director of customer services will be presented to councillors next week, when the proposals are expected to be approved.

Staff and unions have been informed of the changes, which involve a shake-up of 23 existing customer services officers’ working patterns.

Workers will move from a three-shift rota to a two-shift system.

The report says: "The appropriate unions have been involved throughout the discussions with staff and they have confirmed that all individual staff issues have been resolved."

The council’s contact centre, which deals with telephone inquiries from customers, will also close 30 minutes earlier from the start of April, at 5.30pm, but will continue to open at 8am. No jobs have been lost as part of the changes.

A council spokesman added: "While the hours of operation in our One Stop Shop and contact centre are reducing slightly, the changes mean that our workforce will be concentrated to our peak hours of customer demand, meaning more officers available at the times our customers need us most.

"What’s more, by utilising the resources we have in this way we anticipate an additional 20,000 calls can be dealt with annually, while at the same time making an IT saving of £13,000.

"We will continue to promote our online services available via our website 24 hours a day as feedback from our customers tells us this is a valuable third way for many of them to interact with the council."

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk

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