Council to reopen local offices after C-19 closures

Durham County Council’s customer access points (CAPs) – which were closed in line with pandemic restrictions – are reopening to visitors.

TheCAPs,whichofferhelp and information about council services for people who are unable to use telephone or online services, have been closed since December, in line with national work from home guidance.

Although Plan B restrictions were lifted in February, the council’s CAPs remained temporarily closed to allow staff to support other frontline services, including the processing of test and trace support payments due to high demand caused by the Omicron variant.

All services provided at the CAPs pre-pandemic will be available from Friday – including Seaham, Chesterle-Street, Durham City and County Hall.

Customers will need to pre-book an appointment prior to visiting and appointments with specialist staff for complex issues will be held by video call rather than faceto-face – with equipment on offer in CAPs should customers not be able to access this at home.

When visiting a CAP, customers are asked to sanitise their hands, wear a face covering if they wish and respect other people’s space, to keep staff and customers safe.

CllrSusanMcDonnell,cabinetmemberfordigitalandcustomer services, said: “We are pleased to be able to welcome back visitors to our customer access points. The appointment system will help us to ensure we have the resource available to meet customer needs across all channels.”

To book an appointment at a CAP, call 03000 26 0000 or email help@durham.gov.uk