Costs of the Covid-19 helpline (FOI)

Request

A

How much money has the Government of Jersey on the Covid-19 helpline to date?

B

What was the rationale for not using an automated service for this helpline?

Response

A and B

The helpline team was created in 2020 and has been operating seven days per week since. Initially upon set up, members of staff were seconded from their substantive roles in Government of Jersey (GOJ). The costs of this were largely paid by the employee’s home department with the helpline only picking up any additional overtime costs and therefore the base salary information is not recorded in an accessible way to report on. As the pandemic progressed, the majority of GOJ staff returned to their business as usual and the helpline has been staffed by dedicated new members of staff, with redeployment from GOJ colleagues only happening at peak times to support additional demand for the service.

The recorded costs for the helpline since March 2020 are £732,566.

An automated service would not have been able to provide the necessary support to Islanders. The range of queries the helpline have dealt with are beyond the scope and capability of any automated service.

Where possible we have introduced self-service options for Islanders such as the online form to book PCR tests, and vaccinations.

The helpline takes calls relating to Covid-19 symptoms, vaccination data and issue of QR codes, booking vaccine and PCR tests for people who can’t use the online option, isolation queries, travel queries, business queries, support for vulnerable islanders and general information on the latest public health guidelines and strategy.