PEOPLE in Powys are now going online at Midnight to access council services.

Residents will be increasingly expected to pay their bills and access services by using the council’s website.

Digital First, is going to be a central plank to all of Powys County Council’s (PCC) services as they look to “transform” the council and become more streamlined and efficient.

At a seminar meeting at county hall Dave Morris from the finance department explained that a new pilot scheme is already making changes to the way people access services since starting on March 20.

Mr Morris said: “We have only just gone live with the IVR (Interactive Voice Response) part of the project.

“The stats from the first few days have just arrived. With the Council Tax bills just going out, this is our peak time.

“We have taken 5,000 calls in 10 days which averages at 500 a day. We are trying IVR and webchat as a pilot and the main reason being is we are encouraging people to self serve.

“It’s obviously a  cheaper option for the council for people to self serve wherever possible rather than speak to an advisor.

“It also frees up the officer’s time to deal with more complex queries. Those who still wish to speak to somebody should still be able to.”

Mr Morris added: “We can also offer a much better customer experience as we can be open 24 hours a day and that’s really important.

“Some of the initial early results are is that people are using just the IVR part at midnight.”

Mr Morris added that people would not be restricted by the council’s offices opening times.

He told councillors that people were taking an average of about six minutes to access PCC services using IVR. Only two per-cent of users were taking more than 10 minutes.

“They are getting through really quick, it’s looking quite promising at the moment,” added Mr Morris.

Soon, residents will also be able to use and interactive “chatbot” to help them access services or pay their bills.