Jobcentre Plus To Improve Customer Service

United Kingdom -- JobCentre Plus, the government-funded employment agency for the United Kingdom, is to change how it delivers its services in order to provide a modern, flexible and more convenient service for customers. Investment in additional resources for customers with communications difficulties was recommended by a recent Department of Work and Pensions report.

Key findings in the report identified that telephone contact was a complete or partial barrier for some customers, whilst others experienced difficulties using telephony based systems. It was also found that staff in contact centres felt that the use of a formal script in some cases increased communication problems, due to a lack of flexibility to adapt the script for specific individuals.

In addition, another report by the Citizens Advice (CA) entitled "Citizens Advice report on Jobcentre Plus Service delivery" is also paving the way for customer service improvements and an action plan is currently being developed to take forward recommendations.