Privacy Notice

CONTACT CENTRE PRIVACY NOTICE

Information about how St Helens Council's Contact Centre uses your personal data. This Privacy Notice below explains how St Helens Council Contact Centre collects, uses and stores your data.

Why do you need my information?

We record calls to help us monitor performance and improve customer interactions with the Council.

Call Recording

We record calls into the Contact Centre for training and monitoring purposes, as well as for the purpose of quality control. You will normally be told before speaking to one of our advisors that our calls are being recorded. We may also need to use call recordings as evidence where concerns or issues are raised.

Why are calls recorded?

Recording customer conversations allows us to assess customer satisfaction, train and develop staff, review call quality, and have access to a verbal record of what is said in the event of a subsequent complaint.

How are call recordings used?

Quality monitoring

Written records only provide partial information. A call recording provides a more rounded view and allows us to better understand the customer experience and assess the processes applied. This can help us identify any areas for improvement.

Training and Development

Listening to a sample number of calls, allows managers to identify training needs. Sample scenarios are based on the recordings.

How have we informed our customers that we record calls?

Customers who ring the Contact Centre hear the following message:
Thank you for calling St Helens Councils Contact Centre, your call may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes.

If you receive a call from the council, you will be notified by the agent making the call that it is being recorded.

Can I request a copy of my call recording?

Call recordings are destroyed after 3 months. (63 days) If the recording is available, you can request a copy of your conversation by making a subject access request.

This will be provided to you in accordance with your right of access to your information.

Data Protection Act 2018

When you supply any personal information to our electronic services we have a legal obligation in how we use that data. We must collect the information fairly, that is, we must explain how we will use it, let you know why we want the information, and tell you if we intend to pass the information on to anyone else. Your information will only be disclosed where you have consented, where we are obliged to or when permitted by law.

We may pass your details on to third party service providers who are contracted to St Helens Borough Council in the course of dealing with your request. These third parties are obliged to keep your details securely, will use them only to fulfil the request and will dispose of the information at the appropriate time.

As the council's online services expand, we may offer you the opportunity to participate in surveys, carried out by the council or its agents, which help our research into the types of service we offer.

We will ensure that all personal information supplied is held securely, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.