Two community hubs are being piloted in West Bromwich and Blackheath as part of council improvements to customer service, to make it easier for residents to access services and resolve issues.

Available at the hub sessions will be customer service advisors, a housing officer, revenue and benefits advisors via Teams and webchat, and a staff member from the Healthy Sandwell team in Public Health, plus library staff on hand to support residents who need any face-to-face support.

The Central Library at West Bromwich will be open for this service every Tuesday 10am-4.40pm, while at Blackheath the service will be available during the same hours on a Wednesday.

These two venues have been chosen because West Bromwich and Rowley Regis do not have a Local Office in operation and this ensures that residents in these areas have a face-to-face offer. A council spokesperson said:

“Our aim is to ensure we resolve queries at the first point of contact and if this is not possible then we aim to make sure the resident leaves with a clear understanding of how their query is being dealt with.

"We will also support residents to sign up to MySandwell and show them how to get in touch with the council online if they wish to try this option By providing this service in local libraries, residents do not have to travel to the One Stop Shop in Oldbury to get a face-to-face service.

"We are also making the best use of our libraries where we can provide a more holistic service by signposting people to other services and information as and when required.”

The council will closely monitor the pilot, including the types and numbers of queries as well as customer satisfaction, to help inform future service decisions. Residents can sign up online for a MySandwell account to request council services, report problems and track any enquiries.