Contact Centre Opening Hours
Our current opening hours are as follows for the Contact Centre phoneline 0345 140 0845 and for responding to social media and online queries:
Monday to Thursday – 8.00.am to 5.30pm
Fridays – 8.00am to 5pm
During the hours of 8.00 am to 9.00 am, we have limited staff available to handle telephone calls so we will only be able to accept telephone calls for Children’s Social Care, Adult Social Care and urgent enquiries for our Highways department. For all other telephone enquiries, please use our online services
You can also contact us by email
If your call is an out of hours emergency contact Sefton Arc security 0151 922 6107.
Please note, this only applies Monday to Thursday after 5:30pm and Friday after 5pm.
Contact Centre
Our Contact Centre is experiencing extremely high call volumes and will continue to concentrate its focus on the more vulnerable members of our community.
There are alternative ways for you to get information:
- Stay up to date with changes to council services at our Community updates webpage;
- Volunteer to help vulnerable residents in Sefton here;
- Access a range of Council services online.
If you still need to get in touch? Why not try these options first...
- Make an online payment;
- Request a bulky item collection;
- Report a street sweeping complaint;
- Report dog fouling;
- Report fly tipping;
- Report a broken street light;
- Report an abandoned vehicle;
- Have your say on a consultation;
- Making a planning enforcement complaint
- Report anti-social behaviour
- Missed a collection?
Not found what you're looking for? Try searching our online services.
If your enquiry is not listed above, you can CONTACT US via:
- Use our online contact form - we aim to respond to your query within 10 working days;
- Send us a Tweet or a DM on our Sefton Council Twitter Page;
- Chat to us via Web Chat;
- Contact your local Councillor;
- Provide feedback or make a complaint online.
Customer Service Delays
We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls to our Contact Centre and requests to our Council Tax Teams - mainly due to the cost- of- living crisis.
Both teams are currently prioritising supporting the most vulnerable, and those in need of help and support from our Emergency Limited Assistance Scheme (ELAS).
We appreciate that the current response times will be frustrating for people trying to contact the Council, therefore we would encourage people to use online processes wherever possible.
Alternative ways to find the information you need.
Dignity at Work
Our Customer Services staff come to work to provide a service to our customers. We will talk to you with respect, and it is important that you treat our staff with respect.
Sefton Council observes a dignity at work and zero tolerance culture. This means that aggressive or violent behaviour, including swearing towards our staff will not be tolerated.
If you talk to our staff in a way that we consider aggressive, abusive or offensive, our staff have the right to immediately terminate telephone calls in the Contact Centre or terminate interviews in our One Stop Shops. We may also take steps to restrict the way that you contact us.
We feel sure that you will understand that we need to be respectful when we talk to each other.
One Stop Shops
Sefton Council has two One Stop Shops located within the borough dealing with a range of face-to-face enquiries for many of our Council Services.
Bootle One Stop Shop is located on 324 Stanley Road, Bootle, L20 3ET
Southport One Stop Shop is located within The Atkinson, Lord Street, Southport, PR8 1DB
For Bootle One Stop Shop due to the expected increase in customer demand during our Council Tax annual billing period and for all Monday’s and Tuesdays, we will be offering an appointment-only service from 25th March 2024 until 30th April 2024 - unfortunately drop-ins will not be allowed.
Arrangements for Wednesday’s, Thursday’s and Friday’s will continue to be drop-in during this period.
These temporary arrangements do not include the service offered to our Taxi Licensing customers, as that service will continue as normal.
Bootle One Stop Shop no longer has payment kiosks but has a cashier onsite accepting card and cash payments for a number of Council services. The cashiering facilities offered, are available from 9.00 am to 12.00 pm and 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm, Monday to Friday. Customers can also pay for Council services via our automated payment telephone line, at local Post Office’s and through the Council’s website.
For Southport One Stop Shop recently relocated from Cambridge Arcade to The Atkinson, we offer an appointment only service during the hours of 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
If you require an appointment for either One Stop Shop, please contact our Contact Centre on 0345 140 0845.
Visiting our One Stop Shops & Accessibility
Both One Stop Shops are:
- Wheelchair accessible and we have staff available to assist customers to their appointment when they arrive, should they require it.
- Have a loop hearing system for people who are hearing impaired
- Can offer a private interview room; however, this needs to be requested in advance of your interview.
- Have an interpreter service available for customers where English is not their first language.
Enquiries
If you are a member of the public who has an enquiry about a Sefton Council service, please use our contact form.
Alternatively you can email contact@sefton.gov.uk
All media enquiries, including those for Cabinet Members, must be sent to the Council’s Communications Team, who will organise any responses.
Content on our MySefton News Website is available for use by journalists and other media.
Videos can be downloaded from Sefton Council’s YouTube channel.
If you require files, including photographs, to be sent to you in any other way, please contact the Communications Team.
Customer Services Charter
At Sefton Council, we are committed in providing a high-quality of service to all our customers. Read our Customer Service Standards Charter, which sets out the standard of customer service that you can expect and the aims that we constantly strive toward.
Customer Satisfaction Survey
To comply with certain Customer Service Excellence standards, our Bootle One Stop Shop has been completing customer satisfaction surveys with visiting customers.
You can download the results of our most recent survey here.
Contacts
Senior Leadership Team
Phil Porter - Chief Executive
Andrea Watts - Executive Director - People
Stephen Watson - Executive Director of Place
Stephan Van Arendsen - Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services
stephan.vanarendsen@sefton.gov.uk
Deborah Butcher - Executive Director of Adult Social Care and Health
Stuart Barnes - Assistant Director of Place (Economic Place and Housing)
Peter Moore - Assistant Director of Place (Highway's and Public Protection)
Jan McMahon - Assistant Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services (Strategic Support)
Laura Knights - Assistant Director of Cared for Children and Care Experienced
Christian Rogers - Assistant Director of place (Commercial Development)
christian.rogers@sefton.gov.uk
Margaret Jones - Director of Public Health / Head of Health & Wellbeing
Michelle Williams - Assistant Director of People (Operational In-House Services)
michelle.williams@sefton.gov.uk
Sarah Alldis - Assistant Director of Adult Social Care
David McCullough - Chief Legal and Democratic Officer and Monitoring Officer
david.mccullough@sefton.gov.uk
Risthardh Hare - Executive Director of Children's Services
Joe Branham - Assistant Director of Children's Services ( Safeguarding and Quality Assurance)
Downloads
Privacy Notice Customer Services Updated 24.04.23 | (pdf 429KB) |