Government has conducted a comprehensive review through the Office of the Chief Secretary of the needs and requirements of each Government Department in providing its services to the general public.

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic the Government closed all public counters and focused its efforts on the delivery of basic eServices. A spokesperson for Govt said that it has always been Government’s intention to encourage the use of eServices as and when they become available and to cease the use of Counters where appropriate and possible. During this period, some 15,000 applications were successfully processed using basic eServices with over £500,000 paid in fees during this time.

For those members of our Community who do not use eServices, Government has repeatedly stated that it will provide a Customer Services Centre in the heart of town to provide this support and assistance to those members of our Community who require it.

Over the past months and as a result of the success of Operation Freedom, many Departments have reopened counters including the Post Office, DVLD, OFT, Housing and the Care Agency. These will continue open for the foreseeable future and in respect of other Departments which do not have open Counters at present, Government will soon be opening the Customer Services Centre to be able to deal with all and any queries from the general public.

The Customer Services centre will be based at 323 Main Street, where the Brexit Information Centre was previously housed. Government expects this to be open and operational by Mid July.