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FOI Request - JobCentre Direct/Plus (Read 70,227 times)

bbb_uk Global Moderator Offline Posts: 2,041	FOI Request - JobCentre Direct/Plus Jul 19^th, 2005 at 4:58pm Due to the popularity with people asking for this number, I've today put in a FOI request for the geographical numbers for JobCentre Direct (0845 6060 234). This is the department that deals with job searches. The number already in the database is for new claims but they can transfer you to the job search department.
Back to top	« Last Edit: Jul 19^th, 2005 at 4:59pm by bbb_uk » IP Logged

bbb_uk

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Re: FOI Request - JobCentre Direct/Plus
Reply #1 - Sep 12^th, 2005 at 4:31pm

Just got a reply back from my FOI request:-
Quote:

Thank you for supplying the additional information required to answer your FOI query. I am writing to confirm that Jobcentre Plus Direct has now completed its search for the information you requested for geographical termination numbers.

The information you requested for geographical termination numbers, associated with all contact centres that the 0845 6060 234 number routes calls to, is not held as they are not required for the system that is in place for this number. All calls to this number are routed via a Call Based Routing (CBR) system.

CBR allows the call to be answered when the designated contact centre is busy, by moving it through the CBR until it finds a contact centre that has an operator available to answer it. This then will stop the call being ineffective.

All of the contact centres are grouped together in various groups and sequences forming configuration groups. Each group then has a lead contact centre site, and from there the order of the sites where the call will move to are detailed. There are no geographical termination numbers associated with this system.

With regards to the cost of the calls, to minimise costs to the customer, all telephone calls are charged at a local rate. However customers using providers other than BT and mobile phone users are charged at their network provider’s normal tariff for 0845 calls. Customer’s can also use “warm phones” in local Jobcentre Plus offices to make this call free of charge.

We aim to predict the level of staff required to handle incoming calls on a day by day basis, however on occasions the actual call volumes can exceed that which was predicted. When this happens, an appropriate message is placed on incoming calls and callers are placed in a queue. In order to enter the queuing system, the call needs to be accepted by the contact centre and in line with private and public sector organisation standards, calls become chargeable once the call is accepted.

I hope the information provided answers your query, please feel free to contact me personally if required and I will be more than happy to discuss your request further.

As you can see the geographical termination number 0845 6060 234 (job searches) doesn't exist as it doesn't use geographical terminaton numbers.

They did supply the number for new claims which was already in the database anyhow.

Does anyone know what this Call Based Routing (CBR) system is because according to the reply it doesn't require geographical numbers in which case it would have to be VoIP but I can't see a gov dept using VoIP already when it still hasn't really taken off.

I will email back and "correct" them with regards to the 0845 being local but I'm more concerned in obtaining geographical(s) for the job searches number.

« Last Edit: Oct 15^th, 2005 at 7:52pm by bbb_uk »

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Re: FOI Request - JobCentre Direct/Plus
Reply #2 - Oct 15^th, 2005 at 7:51pm

I got a reply back as follows:-
Quote:

Thank you for supplying the additional information required to answer your FOI query. I am writing to confirm that Jobcentre Plus Direct has now completed its search for the information you requested for geographical termination numbers.

The information you requested for geographical termination numbers, associated with all contact centres that the 0845 6060 234 number routes calls to, is not held as they are not required for the system that is in place for this number. All calls to this number are routed via a Call Based Routing (CBR) system.

CBR allows the call to be answered when the designated contact centre is busy, by moving it through the CBR until it finds a contact centre that has an operator available to answer it. This then will stop the call being ineffective.

All of the contact centres are grouped together in various groups and sequences forming configuration groups. Each group then has a lead contact centre site, and from there the order of the sites where the call will move to are detailed. There are no geographical termination numbers associated with this system.

The geographical termination numbers for the 0845 numbers that are used for the First Contact service, are attached for your information. The information is in a spreadsheet format, detailing the site, the associated 0845 number and the geographical termination number for that site. If you have any problems opening the attachment please feel free to contact me, and a hard copy can be issued to you.

With regards to the cost of the calls, to minimise costs to the customer, all telephone calls are charged at a local rate. However customers using providers other than BT and mobile phone users are charged at their network provider’s normal tariff for 0845 calls. Customer’s can also use “warm phones” in local Jobcentre Plus offices to make this call free of charge.

I have of course corrected them on the fact the the job searches number doesn't have a geographical and asked for an internal review of their decision.

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Shiggaddi Senior Member Offline Posts: 411 Saltash, Cornwall Gender:	Re: FOI Request - JobCentre Direct/Plus Reply #3 - Oct 15^th, 2005 at 10:48pm With regards to the cost of the calls, to minimise costs to the customer, all telephone calls are charged at a local rate. Tut tut, they never learn. They've just been told that 0845 is not local rate. Good luck with the internal review, and remember to re-itterate the fact about 0845.
Back to top	I realy hait itt wen peeple canot spel proply. Itt getts onn mye nervs sew mutch annd streses mee owt. Knot onley iz itt vary bade speling butt allso bade gramer. IP Logged

bbb_uk

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Re: FOI Request - JobCentre Direct/Plus
Reply #4 - Oct 31^st, 2005 at 7:24am

After an internal review they are still refusing to provide the geographical numbers for job search enquiries:-
Quote:

I have been asked to carry out an internal review of your Freedom of Information Act request. For your information, I am the Network Manager for the Jobcentre Plus Direct Contact Centre organisation and my responsibilities include capacity planning, call forecasting, agent scheduling and real-time call management.

I have read the correspondence between Chris Brittain and yourself in order to understand the nature of your request and the subsequent response.

In your letter of 19th August you asked “ Under the Freedom of Information Act I would like the geographical termination numbers for all contact centres that the 0845 6060234 (job search) routes calls to”. You also asked “ I would like all the 0845 numbers that are used by yourselves, including any that may have more than one call centre used by a specific 0845 number”.

I have reviewed Chris Brittain’s response to you of 12th September. In her letter Chris correctly states that geographical termination numbers are not held for 0845 6060234 (Jobseeker Direct) as they are not required in order to deliver the call to the destination contact centre. This information is correct.

It may help if I elaborate a little. Calls are routed and delivered within Jobseeker Direct by proprietary routing software written and owned by British Telecom within their 0845 service. Each day my team reviews how many agents are available to take calls at each contact centre then sets user-defined parameters that distribute the percentage share of calls a site will receive on a pro-rata basis. If for example, Bootle had 100 agents available out of a national total of 1,000 we would set their parameter to 10%. BT’s proprietary software then works real-time throughout the day to send one call in ten received to Bootle. Therefore the site to which the call is delivered has no link with the geographical origin of the call. This routing software is the property of British Telecom and under our commercial arrangement with that company, we have no right of access to it. Therefore I am unable to tell you any more about how it actually works.

In order to ensure that our customers are treated equitably, a standard ‘local rate’ call charge is made regardless of the source or destination of the call. As you rightly acknowledge in your correspondence, the actual charge made to a caller is outside the control of Jobcentre Plus as it is determined by the telephony service provided that the customer has contracted with.

Chris then described our contingency call routing model (configuration groups). This model is only used when all agents are busy at a site and the designated queue length for that site is full. Calls are then delivered to the first contact centre in the contingency group that has agents available.

I believe that Chris should have made clear to you the distinction between the primary call routing model and the contingency model for Jobseeker Direct

Chris then provided the geographical termination numbers that are used in our First Contact service – the service through which claims for benefits and allowances and general benefit enquiries are made.

The data she provided is correct and there is no other factual data available that she could have provided to you.

My conclusion in this review then is that I believe Chris could have explained better the nature of our Jobseeker Direct contingency telephone routing model but in all other aspects I believe she has answered your request for geographical termination numbers as fully and accurately as possible.

Outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act review, I have noted your comments about the use of “local rates” in our marketing material and the Advertising Standards Authority and OFCOM Guidelines around these. I will investigate this guidance to determine if we need to alter the way in which we describe our services in the future. Thank you for drawing this to my attention.

As an organisation, we work very closely with our private sector Information Technology and Telephony service providers (EDS and BT) to ensure that their technical solutions offer the best service possible to anyone contacting Jobcentre Plus by telephone. We will continue to work to ensure our services are accessible and effective for anyone who needs them.

Thank you for your correspondence in this matter. I trust that my conclusions satisfy your request for an internal review under the Freedom of Information Act.

Any thoughts?

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Jobcentre plus
Reply #5 - Jan 9^th, 2006 at 3:41pm

Hope i have the right board.

Sent to Jobcenter Plus asking for Geographical number, their responce :
Quote:

Thank you for your email.

You can find the address and telephone number for your local office at:

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/cms.asp?Page=/Home/AboutUs/OurOffices

Please remember if you are dialing from outside the UK to put 0044 in front of the telephone number and miss the 0 off of the area code.

Regards

Ben Johns
Correspondence Officer
Jobcentre Plus Secretariat

Found the Geographical of my local office on that search page.

Edited:

by bbb_uk: This and subsequent posts were merged with an existing thread

« Last Edit: Oct 29^th, 2006 at 9:45am by bbb_uk »

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mc661

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Re: Jobcentre plus
Reply #6 - Jan 9^th, 2006 at 5:43pm

Thanks for that.

What we were after for ages was the equivs to the 0845 numbers they use. If you phone up ur local dole (sorry jobcentre plus) office asking about jobs, theyll tell you to call the 0845 number.

Also if you have a complaint about the JobCentre or DWP again its an 0845 number, never an 020 number which is where the DWP head office is.

We eventully after some very good detective work from one of the forum members found out the GN number. Its listed on this site.

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trevord Full Member Offline Posts: 248 West Sussex, UK Gender:	Re: Jobcentre plus Reply #7 - Jan 9^th, 2006 at 6:22pm mc661 wrote on Jan 9^th, 2006 at 5:43pm: ... ur local dole (sorry jobcentre plus) office ... Slightly off-topic, but what is the "plus" bit meant to mean? Do they do more than jobs, or what? I didn't know they are called that now.
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mc661 Senior Member Offline Habitual FOI requester. Posts: 432 West-Norfolk Gender:	Re: Jobcentre plus Reply #8 - Jan 9^th, 2006 at 8:52pm Think its another gov rebranding exercise (aka waste of cash). Nah I think its because the old original dole office (Social Security Office) and Job Centre merged together so people from both 'offices' were in the same new office and so "could offer a more enhanced service"
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trevord Full Member Offline Posts: 248 West Sussex, UK Gender:	Re: Jobcentre plus Reply #9 - Jan 9^th, 2006 at 9:03pm mc661 wrote on Jan 9^th, 2006 at 8:52pm: I think its because the old original dole office (Social Security Office) and Job Centre merged together so people from both 'offices' were in the same new office and so "could offer a more enhanced service" Presumably, enhanced waiting times, enhanced cost telephone numbers, etc.
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trickyd

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Re: Jobcentre plus
Reply #10 - Jul 22^nd, 2006 at 5:33pm

There is now a move for the processing of benefit claims to be in large centralised offices:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2006-06-28a.76509.h

These will use 0845 numbers.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/newhtml_hl?DB=semsimple&STEMMER=en...

Sorry for the big link- when you get there find the heading "Social Fund".

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pcar964

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Re: Jobcentre plus
Reply #11 - Sep 27^th, 2006 at 5:19pm

trickyd wrote on Jul 22^nd, 2006 at 5:33pm:

There is now a move for the processing of benefit claims to be in large centralised offices:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2006-06-28a.76509.h

These will use 0845 numbers.

http://tinyurl.com/jsgpn

Sorry for the big link- when you get there find the heading "Social Fund".

I sent this email today to the person listed as the contact for the new system: rachel.albericci@dwp.gsi.gov.uk When I receive a reply, I will post it here.

Dear Rachel,

Re Touchbase, September 2006 Article

I would like to comment on the proposed telephone access to the Benefit
Delivery Centres. The article states:

"....be able to contact us about their benefit claim:

by calling an 0845 telephone number"

Ofcom and the Central Office of Information advise that non geographic
telephone numbers should not be used by government departments due to the
increased cost of calling them from landlines or mobiles.

"Ofcom has provided advice to the Central Office of Information (which advises
Government Departments on how to publicise their services) and will continue
to provide this support. COI guidance now advises that 0870 numbers should not
be used for consumer contact centres."

"Ofcom also believes it is inappropriate for public bodies to use any 08
number exclusively (i.e. without also providing a geographic alternative
number) when dealing with people on low incomes or vulnerable groups."

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/mofaq/telecoms/nts/#content

Benefit Delivery Centres will almost always be dealing with people on low
incomes or vulnerable groups. As such, the use of a non-geographic 0845
telephone number is not appropriate.

Furthermore, those on the lowest incomes will often be on BT's Light User
Scheme or In Contact scheme. Both price calls to non-geographic numbers at a
higher rate than the standard BT service prices.

In addition, non-geographic numbers are not included in the "free" minutes
provided by landline and mobile telecom providers. This means that even if the
person calling the people Benefit Delivery Centre is able to afford a
telephone service with inclusive minutes (such as BT's base rental Option 1),
they will still have to pay to call the Benefit Delivery Centre.

I would urge you to reconsider the use of 0845 non-geographic numbers and
always provide a geographic number for those needing to contact a Benefit
Delivery Centre or other DWP service.

Regards,

Peter

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trubster

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Re: Jobcentre plus
Reply #12 - Oct 29^th, 2006 at 1:29am

Just if anyone is interested I am handing this letter in to the jcp on monday in sheffield... someone let me know if it sounds ok please!!! :exclamation :exclamation

Can someone give me some feedback as I will be sending this letter monday and need to know if it sounds ok???

29th November 2006
Re:- Request for Information under the Freedom of Information act 2000

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you to request some information under the ‘Freedom of Information act 2000’. I would like to request the information as itemised below;

• The Geographical telephone number for the JSA/Income Support Ongoing claims help line / call centre which currently has an 0845 number
• The Geographical telephone number for the crisis loans call centre / application line which currently has an 0800 number
• Figures stating the amount of revenue paid for / received from the usage of non-geographical number (0800/0845/0870/0871) in the last 12 months

I understand that there is a professional image to non geographical numbers, but I do not agree with the use of them and especially departments of the government that people with low/no income have to call to arrange a claim to benefits. I also understand that these non geographical lines generate income when people call them, can you please notify whether you get a payment for the usage of these lines or if you are provided with services in lieu of receiving a fee.

I have read the Freedom of information act thoroughly and, in my opinion, this request for information is not unreasonable. By the request for a geographical number I mean the phone number starting 01/02 not 08xx. This is the number that the 08xx number diverts the inbound calls to.

Thanks in advance for your assistance in this matter

Yours Faithfully

~Edited by bbb_uk: Removed request to delete post as I've deleted new thread started on this subject as there was already threads existing.

« Last Edit: Oct 29^th, 2006 at 9:52am by bbb_uk »

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Re: FOI Request - JobCentre Direct/Plus
Reply #13 - Oct 29^th, 2006 at 9:51am

Hi trubster,

I've merged your post with an existing one on JobCentre Direct/Plus which was 2005.

If you scroll to the top of the page, you'll see that I've already done an FOI and even asked for an Internal Review but didn't get anywhere.

Also on one of the many, many Ofcom consultations the JobCentre actually complained to Ofcom about their 0845 not being 'local rate' as they thought it was (I originally informed them that calls to 084x/087x can cost upto 40p/min from mobiles, etc, etc). I got the impression from the JobCentre Plus response to the Ofcom consultation that as soon as the new 03x numbers start they will migrate over.

If, after reading my FoI, you still wish to do an FoI then post back and post my FoI email I sent to them (I hope I still have it).

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trubster

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Re: FOI Request - JobCentre Direct/Plus
Reply #14 - Oct 29^th, 2006 at 7:01pm

bbb_uk wrote on Oct 29^th, 2006 at 9:51am:

If, after reading my FoI, you still wish to do an FoI then post back and post my FoI email I sent to them (I hope I still have it).

Hi bbb_uk,

I did try to PM you but I have not made enough posts to this forum... I am definatly going to give it a bash and try and get the numbers out of them, I will make a complaint at the office if they do not provide ther numbers as they should legally release them under the FoI act... I have had no end of dealings with this office in sheffield and I would love to rattle there feathers... lol

If you still have the email, please send it to me, also, do you know if the info in the above letter is ok or just bull...

Cheers,

Kev

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