THE Worcestershire Hub call centre has received plenty of criticism from this newspaper in recent months.

The service set up to make it easier for people in the county to contact their local councils has actually made it harder for residents to do so over the last six months.

Only last week we revealed how more than 14,000 callers to the Hub in the three months to September had been kept waiting for so long they had hung up. And just 17 per cent of calls received by the Hub were answered within the target time of 20 seconds.

We suggested the service was no longer fit for purpose. Now we have some better news to report and some praise to offer the Hub.

The service is improving rapidly, according to last month’s figures. During October the number of calls abandoned stood at just under 6,000 and almost 60 per cent of calls were answered within 20 seconds.

This compares with almost 24,000 abandoned calls in September and only 14 per cent of calls answered within the target time.

It is a remarkable improvement and we are happy to give the Hub’s staff and managers a pat on the back.

There is still some way to go, of course, and the figures can be improved further.

But it would be wrong not to acknowledge the huge turnaround in the Hub’s performance over the last month.

Well done to the Hub. Let us hope the good work continues.