A WOMAN who struggled to report the death of her mother to Bradford Council during the festive season has called for immediate improvements to City Hall's system.

And a councillor whose call for a simple bereavement hotline was voted into place 15 months ago has branded an apparent lack of action as "disgraceful."

Colleen Abbott's elderly mother died on December 27 and when she rang Bradford Council on Monday, December 29 in a bid to report the details, the standard answerphone system told her to expect a wait of nearly half an hour.

Mrs Abbott, of Baildon, said: "I was told by an automated voice that the system was very busy and that there was a 25 minute wait.

"If there was a designated bereavement line I would have joined that phone queue and there would not have been many people on it I'm sure.

"So I gave up and went online to give in details about my mother to do with council tax and housing matters.

"And again I was disappointed as there was no email response to at least tell me the details had been received."

Wanting to check that things were being processed, Mrs Abbott rang Bradford Council on Monday, January 5 - but met with a waiting time of 21 minutes.

She said: "I feel really let down by this. All the banks and private companies I've dealt with are sympathetic and efficient - we pay our taxes to Bradford Council and it should be same."

Baildon Councillor and deputy mayor Roger L'Amie will today ask the Full Council why, despite a vote in favour of a dedicated bereavement line in October 2013, which he himself proposed - nothing has been put in place.

"A 25 minute wait for someone in a state of grief is an insult," Cllr L'Amie said.

"My proposal was voted through by a near unanimous majority.

"When people are at their lowest ebb due to the loss of a loved one, that's when they need the most help.

"It's disgraceful and Bradford Council is letting people down in their hour of need," Cllr L'Amie said.

A spokesman for Bradford Council said: "We are sorry that Mrs Abbott received an unacceptable standard of service when she tried to contact the Revenues and Benefits service over the Christmas period, especially as the call concerned a bereavement.

“We have written an apology to Mrs Abbott in response to her complaint. We try to answer calls as soon as possible but obviously over Christmas many staff were on leave which resulted in longer waiting times for some callers.

“Regarding Coun L’Amie’s question to the Council Leader about a one-stop shop to deal with bereavement calls, Bradford Council already operates a service called Tell Us Once which can be accessed when a death is being registered."

Information about every death registered with Bradford Council is passed on to the Council Tax office and everyone registering a death is given information on how to ensure other relevant Council and national Government agencies are informed without having to make further telephone calls.

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