Customer Access Strategy

We want to continue offering value for money services to all our customers and communities. Supporting and encouraging more people to ‘self-serve’ frees up valuable resources, which means we are better able to assist our most vulnerable customers and prioritise support for people who need help the most.

Here are some simple and easy things you can do to help us achieve this:

• before thinking about visiting a Council office or picking up a phone, visit www.rotherham.gov.uk - it’s available 24 hours a day, every day of the year
• encourage your family and friends to do the same or offer to help family members who aren’t able to do this themselves. Many people don’t realise how many different things they can do online and could be missing out on a number benefits and opportunities
• sign up to ‘Your Account’ – it only takes a few minutes but gives you personalised access to your key services such as Council Tax and Benefits and means you have a record of any online forms you’ve completed when logged into ‘Your Account’.
• you can pay online for lots of services using debit and credit cards and PayPal. There are also other self-serve options too such as payment by automated telephone. Or why not set up a Direct Debit for your Council Tax? Simply sign in to ‘Your Account’ and follow the instructions
• by liking/following us on Instagram, Facebook and X you’ll be able to find out what’s happening in your community, have conversations with people who have similar interests and keep updated with Council news as it happens
• sign up to email alerts to be automatically notified about the things you’re interested in
• let us help you to help yourself – we want everyone to benefit from accessing services online so will always encourage you to try it for yourself. If you’ve never been online before or aren’t sure how to access a service, we will support you by either talking you through the process or sitting with you to show you how it works
• make use of the digital skills training and support the Council offers – call into your local library to find out more
• if we make you an appointment, please let us know if you can’t attend beforehand so we can offer it to someone else
• if you do need to come and see us, make sure you bring your documentation and information so we can deal with your request faster and reduce the number of times we need to see you
• keep us updated with any changes that could affect the services you receive from us
• be polite and respectful – we want to help you but will not deal with violent, rude or disruptive customers