Council plans to make more customer services digital

Nicholas Thomas Local Democracy Reporter

A Welsh council must modernise the way residents can contact the authority or risk “leaving the next generation behind”, its leader has said.

Newport City Council is currently running a customer contact improvement project designed to create a smoother experience for the city’s residents.

This includes the use of more digital services, with 82% of the council’s electronic forms currently being completed by residents rather than staff.

But research has found “varying levels of digital confidence” among the city’s residents – and this creates a “challenge in ensuring rapid digital transformation remains inclusive and accessible”.

Speaking at a council scrutiny committee meeting, project co-manager Rhiannon Powell said the authority had to be mindful of residents who were “not capable of using digital systems”.

Cllr Dimitri Batrouni, the council leader, said he was also wary of the impact on younger residents if the authority failed to modernise its customer contact services.

Noting census records which showed Newport had the fastest-growing population of under-16s in Wales, he said the council had to keep up with “continuous” changes to technology.

“If we can make it so simple to contact the council… it eases our officers’ pressure so they can concentrate on the more complex [matters],” he added.

The committee also heard that despite progress, the £320,000 project has been hit by “high levels” of staff absence and could be extended for another seven months, to February 2027.

Project co-manager Paige Grey said the aim was to “enhance the customer experience” when contacting the council, and make interactions “clear and timely across all areas of the local authority”.

So far, the project has found key issues including long wait times for some residents, “inconsistent” communication, and a lack of data to monitor performance.

Improvements recorded to date include the reviewing of dozens of customer forms, the development of automated email responses, and the closure of nearly 50 redundant council email channels.

A customer satisfaction survey for 2025 found residents had rated staff professionalism positively in 91% of cases, and issues had been resolved 78% of the time.