All this week, as part of National Customer Service Week 2020, we’re highlighting the brilliant work of our staff teams across the County Council, who work hard to deliver services to our numerou...
All this week, as part of National Customer Service Week 2020, we’re highlighting the brilliant work of our staff teams across the County Council, who work hard to deliver services to our numerous and wide-ranging customers across Warwickshire!
In this case study, we look at the incredible work of Warwickshire County Council staff to help people who, because they were shielding, were struggling to access support, food and other essentials earlier this year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Working with partners, we provided excellent customer service to our residents, responding to local needs and supporting vulnerable people in innovative ways during these difficult times.
Our staff’s response demonstrated an understanding of need in communities across Warwickshire and real innovation in helping people access food and essential supplies, providing a lifeline to individuals.
It included the establishment of Warwickshire County Council’s Covid-19 hotline for people who need urgent help to access food and well-being support, and our Local Welfare Scheme which is helping individuals in crisis by offering short term support to manage the needs of their households.
During shielding, around 20,000 people in Warwickshire were asked to stay in their homes for 12 weeks.
Our County Council staff reached out to those isolated without support and set up a county-wide food supply and distribution infrastructure and network to get regular food parcels to them, backed up by a seven day a week hotline.
Over the shielding period, over 10,000 food and household supplies parcels were delivered, and 5,000 calls were made or received via the Council hotline.
This was a solid partnership effort between the County Council, district and boroughs and the community and voluntary sectors.
Warwickshire County Council staff purchased, assembled and delivered all parcels to local hubs, which took responsibility for onward delivery to those isolated at home.
In addition, medicines were delivered, our Warwickshire Libraries staff dropped off books to 150 shielded customers, made regular befriending calls and set up a virtual library, and lots of information was shared and distributed to help people look after their well-being and stay connected.
Keep a look out for today’s final case study, which highlights the fantastic work of our Targeted Youth Support (TYS) service staff, who are out and about meeting young people across the county to offer them support with any issues or concerns they may have and to help them to stay safe during the pandemic.