The move comes on the back of feedback from tenants over a number of years regarding the outsourced overnight emergency repairs reporting service.

Many customers pointed to the need for additional help and support offered by a friendly and informed local voice on the telephone.

Albert Henderson, chair of the River Clyde Homes Board, said: “A recent restructure at River Clyde Homes has allowed the development of a number of key new services to take place. This is the first of many positive changes in service quality customers will see in the coming months.”

There are a number of benefits to the new Customer Experience Team handling all calls throughout the day and night. The team offers a seamless service with no passing of customers to outside agencies. This will enable better quality, faster and more accurate customer services to be delivered.

The team will also make outgoing calls in the evening, offering help and advice to customers who, for example, have fallen into rent arrears.

Jonathan Grant, head of customer services (East), added: “The majority of the team of 25 have been employed locally. Inverclyde has long had a highly skilled call centre workforce and we have employed a wealth of customer service experience. This gives the benefit of local knowledge and an understanding of the properties in the Inverclyde area. It also means that customers will be able to talk to members of staff who they are familiar with, and who will understand their needs, at a time that suits them on any matter regarding their home.”

Later this year an enhanced CCTV service, ‘Safe At Home’ will be launched and the team will be responsible for the monitoring of the cameras that are being installed. The team will also be responsible for promoting new services, completing customer surveys, the overnight handling of River Clyde Homes’ social media sites on Facebook and Twitter, and ensuring that all enquiries are dealt with in ‘real time’.