WORK is now complete on Dorset County Council's new £5 million customer contact centre, called Dorset Direct.

A three-month test on the systems will now be run before it is launched in February 2008.

Dorset Direct, based in Dorchester, will eventually deal with 80 per cent of phone calls to the council.

This means customers will get a quicker resolution to their enquiry from trained customer service officers while technical officers in the "back office" will be able to concentrate on their main roles.

The council takes around a million calls a year, to 240 phone numbers and numerous departments.

By February there will be just 12 main published numbers. In the short-term, existing numbers will be automatically re-routed.

Functions which are mainly about dealing with customers, including enquiries about free school meals, emergency planning, complaints and road defects, have been brought into Dorset Direct and more will be added over the next two years.

The cost of setting up Dorset Direct will be paid back over the next five years with savings then being made year on year.

The annual operating costs of £1.2m will be recovered from the savings that a central "front office" creates.

Council leader Cllr Angus Campbell said: "This new way of working will bring considerable savings as it will make us much more efficient in the way we provide services.

"Having seen the centre and met the operators I am confident that Dorset Direct will bring about real improvements."

Sue Hyde, head of communications and customer care, said: "People told us that they were often frustrated by feeling they are passed from pillar to post when they ring their local council.

"Dorset Direct aims to deal with 80 per cent of enquiries at the first point of contact, and really put customers at the heart of all we do.

"The customer service officers are there to make life easier for people who call us and give them a positive experience of dealing with the council."

The contact centre will initially have 20 customer service operators, using state-of-the-art telephone and ICT systems.

From February, extended opening hours will allow calls to be taken from 7am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, with no automated system requiring customers to select numbers for different services.