Sandwell Council is continuing its digital transformation with housing repair services set to join the MySandwell portal.
It means tenants will be able to log repair requests 24 hours a day, seven days a week through MySandwell, without needing to pick up the phone or visiting their Local office.
The repairs service handles around 83,000 calls a year and the development will make reporting an issue with a council property easier and more convenient for tenants.
The council’s MySandwell portal has more than 100,000 individual accounts and the system has handled almost 900,000 online enquiries since its launch in 2016. More than half of all enquiries for council services available on the portal are now done online.
Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for Resources and Core Services Councillor Wasim Ali said: “Since we launched MySandwell in March 2016, more than 100,000 accounts have been created which is just fantastic.
“We offer access to more than 60 different services online – from reporting a pothole or a damaged streetlight, to booking a room at Lightwoods House or requesting a copy of a birth certificate.
“MySandwell has brought about a great digital change in the way the council offers its services. A lot of people these days want to contact the council online.
“The MySandwell portal puts everything in one place and our user satisfaction rates stand at 90%.
“By offering digital services to our residents, it not only saves the council money, it also frees up our frontline staff to help people who don’t necessarily want to go online to contact us by phone or in person. I’m pleased that we’re continuing to extend the services we’re offering through MySandwell.”
The MySandwell portal is operated using a system called Firmstep, which is used by more than a third of UK councils.
Sandwell has one of the highest account take-up rates in the country. Sandwell Council’s cabinet this week agreed to extend the Firmstep contract for two years with an option to extend it for a further two years.
