THE Worcestershire Hub is introducing new opening times in a bid to make it more efficient.

Customers are being advised that the Hub based at Orchard House in Farrier Street, Worcester, will open for face-to-face meetings half an hour later on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from the beginning of next month.

It currently opens at 8.30am but that will shift to 9am. However, it will open an hour earlier on Wednesdays - a change from 10am to 9am - and the Hub will close at 5pm on all weekdays.

Saturday opening times of between 9am and noon will stay the same once the changes come into place from Monday, November 2.

The telephone lines, which have been criticised for buckling under the pressure of the amount of calls being received, will continue to operate between 8am and 8pm on weekdays and 9am and 5pm on Saturdays.

Rachel Brown, marketing and communications officer for the Worcestershire Hub, said: “Not many customers come in before 9am so this is a way of using staff time better.

"They will still be in before 9am dealing with e-mails and enquiries waiting on the system.”

Customers can visit whub.org.uk anytime of day to apply for school places, pay council tax, report a problem with the highways or a missed waste collection.