Fewer bin day calls start with one thing the best service pages do

A resident wants to know when their bins go out, whether they can get a school place, or how to ask for help caring for a parent. They find your page. It tells them about the service, but not the thing they came to find out or do. So they read it again, look for a number, and phone you.

Our monthly check reads each page against what a resident needs from it. For bin collections, that means seeing their own collection day. For school places, it means knowing the deadline and starting the application. A page passes when we are confident it does that job.

Council tax is the bright spot. Most councils get those pages right, which shows the fix is well within reach. The pages that fall short more often are:

• Check bin collections: the most common place to find a gap, and one of the most visited pages on any site
• Apply for a school place and Ask for adult social care: about half the pages fall short
• Apply for a parking permit, Use a household recycling centre, Register a birth, death or marriage and Find leisure centres, parks and events: fewer of these pages are checked, but they often fall short too

This is not a problem for a few sites. Most councils have at least one page to look at. Every type of council is affected. London boroughs and district councils do a little better than average. Northern Ireland districts, metropolitan districts, Scottish councils and county councils have more pages to work on.

Most pages that fall short are not wrong. Many get part of the way: the information is accurate, but the resident cannot finish what they came to do. The usual causes are:

• The page describes the service instead of doing it. Several paragraphs about how collections work, but no way to see your own collection day.
• The answer depends on where you live, and there is no lookup. Bin days, school catchments and recycling centre opening times often need a postcode search. Without one, the page cannot answer the question.
• The next step is buried. The start button or form link sits below long text, in a sidebar, or behind another page.
• Key facts are missing. Who can apply, what it costs, the deadline, what to have ready, and how long it takes. If any of these are missing, residents phone to ask.
• The answer is in a PDF or an old page. A collection calendar from last year, or a leaflet that has not been updated since a service change.
• The service is split across several pages. The resident lands on one that only covers part of the task.