31 December 2018
Customer and Local Services is celebrating the successful launch of ‘One Front Door’, a new customer services hub in La Motte Street. The new department has been created to make it easier for customers to access government services, by housing a wide range of services under one roof.
The former Social Security building was transformed into the Customer and Local Services department on 22 October, with additional front office services relocating each week up to 5 November. As well as the existing Social Security services, the following services are now co-located in Philip Le Feuvre House, La Motte Street:
- Taxes Help Desk
- Treasury Cashiers
- Passports
- Customs
- Planning
- Building Control.
The move is part of the States’ modernisation programme and follows an island-wide opinion survey carried out earlier this year, which found that 84% of islanders wanted to be able to access government services in one place. Since the launch of ‘One Front Door’:
- an average of 700 customers are now coming to the La Motte Street building each day (compared to approximately 400 per day when it was Social Security)
- Welcome Hosts, who are the new first point of contact for customers, are resolving around 200 queries each day, without the need to see a specialist advisor
- 80% of customers who need to see a specialist advisor have been seen within 10 minutes
- around 100 customers a day are accessing more than one government service when they visit Customer and Local Services.
A new touch-screen system to help customers reach the services they need has been implemented, which also allows the department to monitor waiting times more closely. This information is being used to plan service staffing levels, in order to minimise waiting time for customers.
Director General for Customer and Local Services, Ian Burns, said: “I’m delighted with the successful launch of the new department. It’s been a busy period preparing for and managing the changes and it is a great example of teams from across government working together to make life easier for islanders.”
While the service is working very well, and has received a lot of praise from islanders, the government acknowledges concerns raised by some people, who have previously accessed services in separate locations in St Helier, about the location of the department in La Motte Street. Work is continuing to add more services online at gov.je, making them accessible to customers 24/7, without the need to visit the department in person.
Customers wishing to access any of the services at the Customer and Local Services hub can visit the La Motte Street building from 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
gov.je