Information relating to call waiting times and working from home: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

FOI Reference: FOI/202400405604
Date received: 21 March 2024
Date responded: 16 April 2024

Request

Request for information 1: The average call waiting times for the current and previous years.

Request for information 2: The % of helpline staff who are "working from home”.

Request for information 3: The % of all staff who are working from home for part of the week.


Response

Request for information 1:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have all of the information you have requested. To provide the data requested, we require to run reports from our telephony system. The system only holds data for the 12 rolling months prior to the requested report - for any time period prior to that point the information is not held.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.

We do publish Insights reports which give average call waiting times across different periods.

From September 2018 to 23 March 2020 the average call wait time was 16 seconds across all benefit queues - Supporting documents - Social Security Scotland: insights research findings to March 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Between 4 July 2020 to 29 March 2021, the average call wait time was 10 minutes and 58 seconds across all benefit queues - Social Security Scotland - Insights Research findings - April 2020 to March 2021

From 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, the average call wait time was 5 minutes and 51 seconds across all benefit queues - Social Security Scotland - Insights Research Findings – April 2021 to March 2022

From 1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023, the average call wait time was 22 minutes and 17 seconds across all benefit queues – Social Security Scotland – Insights Research Findings – April 2022 to March 2023

I have included an attachment which contains information on call wait times from 1 April 2023 - 31 March 2024 below.

Request for information 2:

I have interpreted your request for information relating to “helpline staff” as members of staff that answer calls on our inbound lines. You should be aware that the resource applied to this changes with demand. Staff working in this area will also be involved in other tasks such as processing applications, ongoing case maintenance and making outbound contact with clients to request supporting information.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.

Request for information 3:

At Social Security Scotland we are committed to hybrid working for all colleagues. We believe it is the right thing for the long-term health, wellbeing and performance of our people and our organisation. Following review and consultation with Trade Unions, a decision has been made that colleagues contractually based in our buildings are expected to work in an office 2 days per week. This will be pro-rata for those who work part time hours.

We have interpreted your request as the percentage of all staff who are classed as hybrid workers. Based on the March 2024 Social Security workforce count (4121 employees), 99.5% of staff within the agency would be considered hybrid workers.

About FOI

Social Security Scotland is committed to publishing its response to requests. The Scottish Government also publishes responses to requests. You can view the responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.