A TELEPHONE survey has shown that Essex County Council has provided quality customer service over the last year.

A survey of nearly 5,000 people was carried out between July and November last year, with 87 percent of people saying they were dealt with politely and fairly by council officers.

This included the different ways in which people are engaging with the council - face to face, over the phone or digitally - and how people would like to engage with the council in the future.

Over 70 percent of people agreed that Essex County Council was delivering on all its customer service promises which include being easy to access and do business with and providing clear, helpful and up to date information.

Councillor Roger Hirst, Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Libraries, Planning and Environment said: “We want to provide accessible customer service to the people of Essex.

“The survey results have been extremely promising but we are not resting on our laurels. We will use this information to inform our customer service strategy in future and monitor our performance against this year’s benchmark to ensure that more people are satisfied that we are delivering our promises.”