Our brief was to review Teign Housing’s Call Centre and provide a strategy and action plan for the future delivery of customer service. We were also asked to assess the Call Centre’s strengths and weaknesses and whether it was currently delivering services as intended. Recommendations for any remedial actions were to be included in an action plan.

Our methodology included a desktop review, structured interviews with senior and operational managers and time spent with front line staff as they took calls, observing systems and processes.

Our report, strategy and operational action plan provided the foundation on which Teign improved this particular area of the service. They subsequently recorded increasing levels of customer satisfaction with their call handling. As a result of our work Teign was able to demonstrate an awareness of its weaknesses and an understanding of what it needed to do. These points were recognised by the Audit Commission in their subsequent inspection.