Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

Due to maintenance, the following systems will be unavailable from 11.45am on Tuesday 24 December until 8.00am on Thursday 2 January: our online Council Tax, business rates and housing benefit services, and our welfare assistance form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Healthwatch County Durham

Healthwatch County Durham provides a way for local people to communicate, challenge and shape the decisions of commissioners and service providers to improve health and social care services in County Durham.

The Government's health and social care reforms centre on the fundamental principle that citizens must be at the heart of everything our health and social care services do. The aim of Healthwatch is to act as a consumer champion to strengthen patient, service user and public voice at both a national level (Healthwatch England) and a local level (Healthwatch County Durham).

Find out more at Healthwatch County Durham: news and reports.