Using website could help council to cut its costs

Arun District Council has reminded residents it could be easier to access some of its services online.

Tasks such as reporting a missed bin collection, paying your council tax bill or applying to go on the council’s housing register can all be done at the click of a button.

It’s a quick, convenient, cost-effective way to access services, without telephoning or going to the council
offices.

You can fill out an eform, get more information about an issue and if needed you will be signposted to the right place.

Norman Dingemans, Arun’s cabinet member for customer services, said: “National comparative figures show that every face-to-face contact with a council costs around £8 and every telephone call handled costs about £3, whereas contact via the website costs less than 50p.

“Times are hard for residents as well as local councils so anything we can do to make things more efficient and convenient for you – the taxpayer –- will ultimately be to your benefit.”

Some 61 per cent of customer contacts are by the websi=te, but Arun’s aim is to save money and become more efficient by raising that to 80 per cent by 2017.

If you don’t have internet access, you can still telephone or drop in to council offices.