SRA axes genealogy service to relieve pressure on contact centre

The SRA has decided to withdraw its genealogical tracing service to relieve pressure on its struggling contact centre.

The centre received more than 51,000 calls from the profession and 20,000 from the public in the first quarter of this year.

Only 17 per cent were answered within the service level of 60 seconds, a quarterly performance report found.

A spokesman for the SRA said that although the genealogy service was paid for, it "could not continue as it was taking up so much of the contact centre's time and therefore detracting from its primary purpose."

The spokesman said that in the future all enquiries would be directed to the Law Society library "as they are better placed to deal with such matters".

In its report, the regulator said that following the end of a contract with telephone services firm Respondez at the start of this year, the Law Society had been dealing with 'find a solicitor' enquiries while other consumer calls were handled by the SRA.

The report went on: "There has been further attrition of our most experienced staff, primarily due to a new contact centre in Redditch.

"A recruitment campaign has taken place during March to replace them, and we expect to see some impact after a few weeks of initial training, although it will take a year to train on all subject areas, and match the skills of those we have lost.

"Calls have become more complex since the launch of mySRA and outcomes-focused regulation, and are longer, hence wait times and abandon rates have increased.

"We are streamlining all activities wherever possible, and emails have been brought back within service levels."

The quarterly report showed that the SRA was approving ABSs much more quickly than in previous quarters.

A total of 61 licences were granted in the first quarter of this year, compared with 39 in the last quarter of 2012. The number of ABS licences granted with conditions also grew, from one to six.