sponsored by Genesys
Presented to the local authority contact centre that can demonstrate an effective increase in call handling, complaints management, staff training and staff support.

2011 Winner: Derbyshire County Council
Call Derbyshire deals with over 300 council services and is now the first point of contact for all new social care referrals. In 2010 the centre responded to 563,000 phone calls and 36,000 emails, texts and contact forms. Despite periods of severe weather which led to an increase in call volume, the centre maintained business continuity thanks to staff working longer hours. Call Derbyshire, an established 24/7 service, is playing a major role in how it provides residents with a central point of contact and integrated service for the vulnerable.

Commended: Hull City Council
Hull City Council and KCCC partnered to provide citizens with a single number to call for any council enquiry. Outsourcing of the call centre has resulted in customer satisfaction consistently over achieving 98% with over 70% of calls answered within 20 seconds. There has been a 6% improvement in first time resolution, reducing the number of repeat callers by 1,000 calls a week. As calls are answered by highly trained and knowledgeable staff and the length of calls have also been reduced by 13%, improving the customer experience.  

Commended: Surrey County Council
In 2006 the Contact Centre and Web Team combined resulting in the central management of all customer contact channels. In the past 12 months a web based reporting system for street lighting faults has been introduced, as well as a map based reporting system for highways defects, and a joint project with Surrey police and Surrey Heath borough council to enable the public to report highways defects via any of these organisations. As a result cost per contact has been reduced from 79p to 49p,  and customer satisfaction with the contact centre is over 94%.

Commended: Wokingham Borough Council
Wokingham Direct has grown to over 30 staff handling more than 300,000 customer interactions each year through a wide variety of access channels. These include phone, email, text, webchat, e-fax, contact via kiosk or digital television. With high levels of computer literacy and smart phone ownership within the borough, Wokingham Direct has focused on new technology to make communication with its customers even easier. SMS groups, such as the ‘Dog & Bone’ group, epitomise Big Society working in action.

Commended: Norfolk County Council
An ambitious change programme, Norfolk Forward, has put customer focus at the centre of the council – and developed a shared customer service unit reporting directly to the chief executive, aiming to make a large county council feel less remote and more ‘at your service’. Handling 30,000 calls and 2,000 emails per month, multi-skilled and well trained agents can answer enquiries about anything from potholes and library books to care options for vulnerable children.