The Council has today published a Decision Record that outlines plans to bring the Customer Contact (Call) Centre and the Revenues and Benefits services back ‘in-house’.
The two contracts, currently run by Civica, end in 2022 and will not be renewed, meaning staff will be transferred over to direct Council employment.
The current contract for the Customer Contact Centre began on 1st December 2016 and, due to the specialist nature of the activity, has historically always been outsourced. As call handling technology and the Council’s own technical capacity has developed since that time, it is now appropriate to deliver this service directly.
The Council’s Revenues and Benefits service contract with Civica commenced on 1st November 2015 and enabled the Council to maintain service standards whilst making substantial financial savings and protecting jobs within the city.
The move to direct provision for both services will give the Council more operational flexibility to deliver and develop them whilst achieving further savings and continuing to secure local employment.
Councillor Aneesa Akbar, Portfolio Holder for Communities at Hull City Council, said:
“We are very grateful to Civica for the hard work they have undertaken over the years in providing these services, but time has moved on and we have been discussing these changes with them for several months. These two services are the ‘front-door’ to our Council for many of our residents and, reflecting this, and our customer service priorities, we have decided they really need to be delivered by the Council directly. By making these changes, we can provide the most efficient, effective and responsive services to our residents and customers.
“We are working closely with Civica and the staff involved to ensure a smooth transition with no service disruption.”
