Report It explained
As part of the Highways Transformation Programme, Staffordshire County Council Highways have developed a new customer Highways portal to replace the current ‘Report It’.
The new portal has taken a year to develop and is the result of a £500,000 investment into new technology, which will make it easier for residents in Staffordshire to report issues on Staffordshire’s highways.
The system will go-live on Tuesday 14 January 2025 (contingency date Tuesday 21 January 2025.
How do I contact the Highways team, or report a problem on the highway?
The preferred and easiest way to make an enquiry or report non-urgent problems on the highway is to use either the tool or MyStaffs app which is available on both Android and Apple devices.
I don't have access to the internet, how else can I report a problem or contact the Highways team?
We would encourage you to ask your family or friends to help you use our online reporting tools.
If you do not have access to a smartphone , laptop or internet connection, many of our local libraries offer free help and advice to get you connected to our online services. See our library pages for more information.
I would like to meet somebody on site to show them the problem I am talking about, is this possible?
Due to the volume of reports we deal with it is not possible to meet on site for every enquiry and usually we will provide updates electronically about your report.
If we think a site visit would help us to inspect or assess the problem, or if we need access to private land, we’ll try to contact you to arrange a meeting.
I would like to speak to the Inspector or someone else within the highways team about my problem, is this possible?
Due to the volume of reports we deal with, it is not possible for a personalised response to every enquiry and usually we will provide updates electronically about your report.
If we think discussing your problem further would help with inspection or assessment, we’ll try to contact you.
It’s outside office opening hours, what should I do?
Please log your report online using the tool or MyStaffs app (which links to Report It). Any highway emergencies will be automatically sent to our out of hours team.
Can I call the council out of hours to report an emergency problem?
If you can, please continue to report emergencies online, even when we are closed. Any reports you make, even emergencies, will be picked up and actioned by our on-call officers. You will continue to receive updates as normal, for any emergency reports that you raise, online.
If you don't have access to our online service, when we are closed, you can call our team on 0300 111 8000 and select the option to report a Highways Emergency. Our pager service will take the details and share them with the on-call officer via our pager service. You will not automatically receive updates if you make reports in this way.
Please do not contact the out of hours pager service for non-emergencies. These can be reported to us online using either the tool or MyStaffs app.
District areas codes
When you report an out of hours highways emergency, please select the appropriate area code from the following options:
- Area 1 - for the District of Staffordshire Moorlands
- Area 2 - for the Borough of Stafford
- Area 3 - for the areas of Cannock Chase and the District of South Staffordshire
- Area 4 - for the District of Lichfield and the Borough of Tamworth
- Area 5 - for the Borough of East Staffordshire and Burton
- Area 6 - for the Borough of Newcastle-Under-Lyme
What happens to my report?
Once your report has been logged, you’ll receive a confirmation email from the Highways team if the report type allows. See below which report types send email updates.
Your confirmation email will include your report reference number. Once you have your reference number and email confirmation, you shouldn't need to follow up.
To check the status of your reports, log in to your customer account.
Email updates
Depending on the problem you report, we offer limited progress updates which are sent by email.
The following report types will send email updates:
- Reports about highway defects e.g. pothole, blocked gully, broken signs
- Reports about speed limit concerns or other road safety issues
- Reports about road works and third-party activities on the highway
- Reports in relation to some issues requiring an application to be made (e.g. , Disabled persons parking bay)
The following report types do not currently send email updates:
Where we can, we’ll send you automated email updates at the following stages of your report:
- When you make a report online, you’ll get a confirmation email.
- After an officer/inspector assesses your report, you’ll receive an email with details of any planned works or their closing notes.
- Once works have been completed, you’ll get a final completion email.
The issue I have reported has not been updated in several weeks, what is happening to my report?
We receive around 4,000 reports each month about various highway issues, but our resources to investigate them are limited.
We aim to respond to reports within 10 working days. However, for some issue types like potholes, this may take longer during extreme weather conditions such as strong winds or storms, heavy rain, or snow.
Once we’ve assessed your report, you’ll get an automatic email with the outcome. Please do not report the issue again. Reporting the same issue again will not cause us to respond any quicker, in fact it can add to our processing time as we respond to and close duplicate reports.
How do I create a new customer account?
For a customer account you need to register using your name and email address.
How do I log in to my customer account?
To log into your customer account, you need your email address and password.
How do I check the status of my report?
If you have a 7-digit reference starting 4, you can check the status of your highway report via the pages on our website.
If you do not have a reference number, then please go back and find the defect on the map. From here you will be able to see the reference number.
You can view the status of all your reports by logging in to your customer account and viewing your dashboard.
The issue I have reported is not showing up in my customer account. Why is this?
Make sure you’re logged into your customer account when making your reports, so they show up in your account. It may take a few minutes for the report to appear.
Check if the issue you reported is visible on the mapping system. If not, try reporting the issue again. If it still doesn't show in your account, you can let us know.
Can I link old reports to my customer account?
To see any new reports in your customer account make sure you’re signed in to your account when you create them.
You can view old reports from the mapping system. If you follow an old report, it will then appear on your dashboard.
I have logged a report but have not received a reference number or confirmation email. Why is this?
To get confirmation emails and updates from Staffordshire Highways about your enquiry, please provide an email address when making your report.
You can view all your report and track status by signing in to your .
You have sent me an email telling me the works have been completed, but they haven’t. What do I do?
We may need to investigate the issue further, so please make a new report explaining the problem in more detail.
My report has been closed because you couldn't find the defect. What do I do now?
Our inspector will go to the exact location you marked on the map when you sent your report. If they have trouble finding the problem, they may try to contact you for more details, but this is not always possible due to the high number of reports we receive.
We may need to investigate the issue further, so please make a new report explaining the problem in more detail.
When plotting the location, please do so accurately. Use the text fields to include any other location information such as landmarks or points of reference. You could also use What3words to help identify the location.
I would like to give feedback on the highways reporting system, how can I do this?
If you have general feedback on the highways reporting system or have experienced any technical issues while making a report, please let us know your feedback.
You can also provide general feedback about the highways service through the survey link in your automated emails.
The mapping system isn’t working – I can’t report something where I live as my area isn’t visible.
Our mapping system only lets you click on roads that are maintained by our Staffordshire Highways team.
You can find the Staffordshire boundary details on our road status map or boundary map.
If the issue you reported is outside our boundary (including Stoke on Trent) we are unable to investigate it because it’s under another highway authority’s responsibility. We are also unable to investigate issues on private or unadopted roads. If you have experienced technical issues and the mapping system is not loading properly, report your feedback to us.
I am having trouble adding myself to an existing report i.e. pothole or gully defect. What am I doing wrong?
To report a defect, you need to click to the side of the road or on an icon on the mapping system. To follow (add yourself), you need to click on an existing map icon.
You can only follow (add yourself) to open enquiries. It is not possible to follow closed enquiries.
On every report page, there is a map key with icons which show what each symbol stands for.