Welsh language Standards Annual Report 2024-25

Summary of Progress - Service Delivery Standards

Calls to the main Council number (01437 764551)

• The number of calls to the Council’s Contact Centre made in English has decreased by 13,404 (5.8%) from229,353 calls in 2023–24 to 215,949 calls in 2024-25.
• In contrast, the number of calls in Welsh has increased slightly by 139 (2%) from 6,764 in 2023–24 to 6,903 in 2024-25.

 

Average queue time for calls on the main Council number (01437 764551)

• The time that customers have to wait for their call to be answered (queue time) when calling the Council’s Contact Centre has increased slightly for both English and Welsh languages when compared to 2023-24. However, the queue time for the Welsh language line has been less than the English line for the last 5 years.
• The average queue time for the Welsh language line has increased by 1 second (3.3%) from 31 seconds in 2023–24 to 32 seconds in 2024-25.
• The average queue time for the English language line has increased by 8 seconds (17.7%) from 45 seconds in 2023–24 to 53 seconds in 2024-25.
• These queue times are well within the service target for 2024-25 which, as last year, is currently for calls to be answered within 2 minutes on average. This target applied equally to both English and Welsh language queues. 

 

Website

Number of web page views

• The number of page views of the Council’s English web page has decreased by 168,054 (7%) from 2,368,437 users in 2023–24 to 2,200,383 users in 2024-25.   
• The number of page views of the Council’s Welsh web page has decreased by 1390 (18.8%) from 7,361 views in 2023–24 to 5,971 views in 2024-25.   
• The authority website is regularly reviewed to ensure compliance.

Number of users

• The number of users of the English website has decreased by 24% (147,312) from 609,354 users 2023–24 to 462,042 views in 2024-25.   
• The number of users of the Welsh website has also decreased by 40% (1,156) from 2,856 users in 2023–24 to 1,700 users in 2024-25.
• These decreases may be due to the other channels we have introduced which also provide customers with information including social media, My Account and Alexa reducing the need to solely rely on the website for information.

 

My Account Usage

• My Account is an online council account that is able to offer a wide range of services that can be accessed online such as making payments, reporting problems and residents can sign up to receive notifications e.g. bin day, school closures and bridge closures.
• Usage of the Council’s English My Account continues to grow with an increase of 9.6% (7031) from 72,795 users in 2023–24 to 79,826 users in 2024-25.
• The Welsh My Account users also continue to grow with an increase of 7% (53) from 739 users in 2023–24 to 792 users in 2024-25.
• The above figures also reflect the numbers of users wishing to receive communication in English or Welsh.
• Overall, there is continued growth in the number of customers registering for My Account and to receive My Account communication through the medium of Welsh or English.

 

Social media

Number of likes for Facebook

• Interest in the Council’s Facebook page (opens in a new tab) continues to grow, though at a reduced rate for 2024-25 compared with to 2023-24.
• English page (opens in a new tab):
• Likes increased by 4% (1,141) from 29,720 in 2023-24 to 30,861 in 2024-25.
• Welsh page (opens in a new tab):
• Likes increased by 1.25% (5) from 400 in 2023-24 to 405 in 2024-25.

Numbers of X followers (formally Twitter)

• English page (opens in a new tab):
• Followers decreased by 3% (444) from 16,058 in 2023-24 to 15,614 in 2024-25.
• Welsh page (opens in a new tab):
• Followers decreased by 3% (20) from 653 in 2023-24 to 633 in 2024-25.

Numbers of Instagram followers

• English page (opens in a new tab):
• Followers increased by 8% (209) from 2,525 in 2023-24 to 2,734 in 2024-25.
• Welsh page (opens in a new tab):
• Followers increased by 9.5% (20) from 210 in 2023-24 to 230 in 2024-25.

 

Written Translation Requests – English to Welsh and Welsh to English

• In total there were 5,358 written translations for all categories (A – F), 15% more than 2023-24 (4,654).
• The breakdown by each category is provided below. There were:
• 41 proofread requests, 17% more than 2023-24 (35).
• 1,436 Category A (under 200 words requests), 2.5% more than 2023-24 (1,400).
• 1,830 Category B (200 – 1,999 words requests) 16.6% more than 2023-24 (1,525).
• 367 Category C (2000+ words requests), 29.6% more than 2023-24 (283)
• 1,671 Category D (urgent, fast turnaround) 16.6% more than 2023-24 (1,433).
• 3 Category E (specialist, technical (legal), the same as in 2023-24.
• 10 Category F (specialist, technical i.e. construction, planning, engineering, environmental), the same as in 2023-24.

 

Simultaneous Translation

• There was an increase in the number of requests to the corporate translation service for simultaneous translation by 31%, from 5 in 2023-24 to 16 in 2024-25.

 

Number of Tenders submitted in Welsh

• There were no tenders received in Welsh, there were 2 tenders submitted in 2023-24.

 

Complaints

• We had 2 complaints in 2024/25 relating to Welsh language service delivery standards (Standard 158). The complaints related to information displayed in Welsh that was thought to be poorly translated and an error in sending a response in English when it should have been sent in Welsh, it had been handled and acknowledged in Welsh.