North Kesteven District Council offices set to reopen to the public - on reduced hours

Face-to-face services at Sleaford and North Hykeham offices closed in early 2020, due to the pandemic.

Apart from urgent homelessness cases, officials report customers have been able to undertake all other transactions over the phone or online or book a covid-secure appointment at Sleaford when necessary.

Visits to residents’ homes have also been carried out where essential and the council has had no complaints about the changes, meaning it has the opportunity to reduce its customer opening hours to dedicate more staff to dealing with these other, more popular forms of communication.

The council’s executive board met on Thursday to resolve whether to reopen 9am-5pm Monday to Wednesday and 9am to 4.30pm on Fridays from July 19, according to the Government roadmap, with a view to making the hours permanent if the trial is a success. Three other local district councils are adopting a similar approach. It is proposed that North Hykeham Infolink reopens on Fridays only.

They also considered employing a security guard five days a week to protect back room staff from aggressive customers entering the offices at Sleaford.