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<p>Universal Credit Full Service is a digital service designed to enable customers
to manage their own data and account online at a time which is convenient for them.
As well as giving them access to online statements for payment information, and their
journal for interacting with their dedicated Case Manager and Work Coach, customers
are able to report changes online when they would previously have called us.</p><p>
</p><p>We do not currently hold any management information that specifically correlates
abandoned calls to use of online services. However, as of November 2017, the percentage
of customers claiming online is over 95%, and those reporting changes online is now
over 80%. This type of channel shift is helping reduce the calls we receive as a percentage
of the caseload: Universal Credit Full Service calls per claim ratio has decreased
from 2.7 in April 2016 to 1.0 by the end of October 2017.</p><p> </p><p>There was
no cost to the public purse for abandoned calls as this forms part of the contract
we have with BT, and following the introduction of the free phone numbers to Universal
Credit helplines in November 2017 there will no longer be a cost to the customer.</p><p>
</p><p>Between September 2016 and October 2017 the average length of time before a
call was voluntarily abandoned by the Universal Credit Full Service customer was 5
minutes 19 seconds.</p><p> </p><p>Notes –</p><p> </p><p>1) The data supplied is derived
from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental
use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics
publication standard. The data should therefore be treated with caution.</p><p> </p><p>2)
Data is not yet available for November 2017.</p>
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