More than 270 000 calls were dropped by clients before they received assistance via the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA’s) call centre during the 2021/22 financial year.
This information came to light in a Parliamentary response to a query from Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Christopher Roos on the status of the home affairs hotline.
In the response, the DHA says its hotline number received a total 602 607 calls for the period under review.
Of those, a total of 273 760 calls were dropped before they were attended to.
The home affairs department’s hotline was createdafter a survey showed citizens wanted to have their enquiries answered before they applied for services.
It’s also aimed at reducing the volumes of people that need to stand in queues at DHA offices.
However, many citizens have expressed their frustration at the long wait times to receive the necessary assistance, or complain their calls go unanswered.
Detailing the contact centre’s service level targets, the DHA says 80% of calls directed to agents by the integrated voice response system are to be answered within 20 seconds.
On the other hand, 60% of calls relating to information requests − for example, how much is an enabling document, which documents are required to apply for enabling documents, how to apply online, how to change an online application, live capture offices and location of offices, and status updates on an application process − are to be resolved within the first call.
The average call handling time is six minutes, it notes.
It further indicates the call abandonment rate is 20%. “These are calls that are sometimes dropped or terminated by clients before being responded to.
“Cases created and escalated to second line support are to be escalated within 24 hours of the case being created.”
According to the DHA, all service levels for the period under review, with the exception of the call abandonment rate, were achieved.
“This was due to the centre operating at 50% capacity to ensure compliance with the lockdown and COVID-19 regulations, as passed by the president of the Republic of South Africa and the World Health Organisation.”
The first call resolution percentage for the financial year 2021/22 was 61%, it adds.
There is a total of 120 contact centre agents in the approved home affairs contact centre organisational structure, with the total number of agents for the 2021/22 financial year at 94, it states.
“During this period, the contact centre operated on a rotation system, catering for 50% capacity per shift, to ensure adherence to the lockdown and COVID-19 regulations.
“The centre therefore had on average 42 agents per shift, excluding those with comorbidities and those on isolation as a result of COVID-19 infections.”
The DHA’s hotline number is 0800 60 11 90.
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