City finance bosses miss key targets

THE finance department of the city council is continuing to miss a series of key targets, a new report has revealed.

The targets cover all aspects of the department's work, including paying invoices, responding to complaints and answering calls from the public.

In the two months to the end of September, only nine per cent of calls about council tax were answered within 30 seconds, while 17 per cent of calls on benefits were answered within 30 seconds. Both areas are well below the target of 50 per cent.

The total number of calls answered within seven seconds has been steadily rising and now stands at 66 per cent, but that is still below the target of 75 per cent.

The council also aims to answer all complaints quickly, but only managed to respond to 98 per cent of them in August and September. Five of the 274 complaints received had not been responded to.