Throughout the lockdown our One Stop Shop in Bath, and Library and Information Services in Keynsham and Midsomer Norton, have remained open, providing vital council services for residents who need support.
Monday to Friday, between 10am and 4pm, customers can make payments, access welfare support, and have telephone access to council and partner services.
To enable the One Stop Shop and Information Services to remain open, social distancing measures were quickly put in place and have been continually refined over the ensuing months. These include:
- Encouraging customers to enter the building individually and to wear a face covering
- Requesting customers use the Track and Trace app or leave contact details
- Limiting numbers in each location
- Erecting transparent screens to prevent close contact between staff and customers
- Widening aisles
- Removing furniture and seating
- Erecting signs reminding customers to maintain at two metres social distancing
- Removing stock from customers’ reach to prevent cross-contamination
- Ensuring staff working at computers keep one computer apart from one another, and clean computers after use
- Ensuring staff have access to hand washing facilities, hand sanitiser, gloves and face masks
Staff have risen to the challenge of changing working practices, including:
- Working flexibly, including from home on an amended rota
- Supporting other council services (for example, processing bus pass renewals for our transport team)
- Supporting our contact centre taking payments from the centre for large waste item removals, and handling our switchboard
From the first lockdown in March 2020 to the end of January 2021 over 22,000 people visited the One Stop Shop and Information Services, and 1,500 Welfare Support Vouchers were issued to vulnerable people who may well have gone hungry without support.