The first phase of a new website for Renfrewshire Council has gone live this week, with changes underway to make it easier for Renfrewshire residents to find information about services online.
Residents seeking information on council tax, council housing, benefits and money advice, will see changes to how the information is provided, the aim being to make it easier and more convenient for people to find the information they need.
Councillor John Shaw, Convenor of Renfrewshire Council’s Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board, said: “Delivering the first phase of our new website is a key part of our digital strategy, which will transform how we deliver and operate our services.
“We get more than six million visits to our website each year, mainly through people searching for information via their mobile phone. And with technology changing at pace, we want to ensure how we provide our service information is easy and convenient to access and future proofed for emerging technologies, including AI.
“People have told us that finding our information online is not easy, so we’ve consulted with local community groups, residents and industry experts, putting users’ needs at the heart of it and making sure that every contact counts – even online.
“We know not everyone wants to access council services online and it’s important we continue to ensure people can reach us or get information in a variety of ways, whether that’s in person, on the phone or through written communications.
“We expect some minor disruption while we make these significant changes but hopefully people looking for information will start to see the positive improvements.”
Work will continue over the coming months to transfer all content from the old website to the new one.
Information on Renfrewshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) will also be moving to the new site by the end of this year, bringing health, social care and other council services all into the same place. In the meantime information on Renfrewshire’s HSCP can still be found at www.renfrewshire.hscp.scot.
To view the new website, visit www.renfrewshire.gov.uk.