DUDLEY Council staff have been recognised for their excellent customer service for the sixth year running.

Following a recent assessment, the council’s customer services and treasurer services teams have retained the government’s Customer Services Excellence standard.

It covers 57 separate elements; including how well an organisation knows, understands and responds to its customers, ease of access to services and information, and standards of service delivery.

Areas recognised by the award included Dudley Council Plus, council tax and business rate collection and ICT and financial services.

The assessment highlighted a number of areas of excellence, including the wide range of customer consultation and customer satisfaction surveys carried out by the council.

Communication between departments was also praised, which was an area of improvement since the last inspection.

Councillor Pete Lowe, cabinet member for finance, said: “We are delighted to retain this national recognition for the sixth year running. It demonstrates the hard work and commitment by everyone in delivering such high quality services to residents.

“This is a fantastic achievement and I’d like to congratulate everyone for continuing to deliver excellent customer services.”