Question NW32 to the Minister of Home Affairs
07 March 2023 - NW32
Roos, Mr AC to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
What (a) total number of calls to the Home Affairs Hotline number 0800 60 11 90 were (i) received by the hotline and (ii) dropped before they were attended to, (b) are the service level targets of the call centre, (c) was the achievement against the service level target, (d) is the percentage of first contact resolution, (e) mechanism of customer satisfaction is in place, (f) measure of customer satisfaction was achieved and (g) total number of call centre agents were in the call centre on any one shift in the 2021-22 financial year?
Reply:
a) Total number of calls to the Home Affairs Hotline number for the 2021-22 financial year
- Total calls received by the Hotline = 602 607 calls
- Total number of calls dropped by clients before they answered are 273 760.
b) The Contact Centre service level targets are as follows:
- 80% of calls offered to agents by the integrated voice response system are to be answered within 20 seconds
- 60% of calls relating to information requests (e.g. how much is an enabling document, which documents are required to apply for enabling documents, how do I apply online, how do I change my online application, live capture offices, location of offices, etc.) and status updates (how far is my application) are to be resolved within the first call (first call resolution).
- Average call handling time = 6 minutes
- Call abandonment rate= 20%. These are calls that are sometimes dropped or terminated by clients before being responded to.
- Cases created and escalated to second line support are to be escalated within 24 hours of the case being created.
c) All service levels for the period under review, with the exception of the call abandonment rate were achieved. This was due to the centre operating at 50% capacity to ensure compliance with the lockdown and Covid-19 regulations as passed by the President of the Republic of South Africa and the World Health Organization.
d) The first call resolution percentage for the financial year 2021-22 was 61%.
e) At the moment there are no systems to measure customer satisfaction levels. The Centre however has a quality assurance unit that ensures that quality interactions happen and that clients are treated in line with the public service code of conduct and that the Bathopele principles are upheld. Where breakdowns in quality assurance are identified, coaching and calibration sessions are arranged to address the gaps. Where misconducts are identified, corrective measures are instituted accordingly.
The Department is in the process of procuring the latest Contact Centre solution with customer satisfaction surveys and questionnaire modules and feedback mechanisms to cover all elements of customer relationship management.
f) The Contact Centre does not have the customer satisfaction measurement module; as such the satisfaction level could not be measured.
g) The total number of Contact Centre Agents on the approved Home Affairs Contact Centre organizational structure is 120. The total number of agents for the 2021-22 financial year was 94. During this period the Contact Centre operated on a rotation system catering for 50% capacity per shift to ensure adherence to the Lockdown and Covid 19 regulations. The Centre therefore had on average 42 agents per shift excluding those with comorbidities and those on isolation as a result of the Covid-19 infections.
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