Northgate-is - News Item 1026

New Customer Contact Centre set to enhance Ipswich council services

Communities in Ipswich are set to benefit from significant long-term improvement to their public services following the Ipswich Borough Council’s decision to route all public enquiries though a dedicated Customer Contact Centre.

The Council has entered into a pioneering three-year performance partnership with Northgate Public Services that will streamline communications with citizens, and enable council departments to focus clearly on service improvement.

The partnership will design and implement a centralised Customer Contact Centre, which is to be staffed by specialist customer service teams who will help to deliver a wide range of benefits by:

• creating a dedicated front office that gives citizens a single point of contact for all their enquiries, dramatically improving service quality and aiming to deal with citizens’ queries first time, every time;
• delivering better for less through carrying out an overhaul of the back office systems to improve front office services for citizens;
• using performance management data and customer feedback to shape further improvements to council services for citizens.

The partnership will deliver cashable savings of nearly £1.5 million over a period of three years to November 2012, over the life of the contract.

All fees paid to Northgate will come from cashable savings. The company operates an innovative risk and reward business model that links its fees directly to its performance. As a result, it only gets paid when it meets its agreed financial and improvement targets.

Terry Hayward, Head of Community and Customer Services at Ipswich Borough Council, said today: “Clear lines of communication are fundamental to the wellbeing of any relationship. The relationship between Ipswich Borough Council and the citizens it serves is no exception. For the first time, local people will be able to raise questions and resolve their concerns through a single point of contact with council staff. As a result, the Customer Contact Centre is certain to have a positive impact on improving the quality of life among our communities. Having worked with Northgate so successfully in the past, I am confident that our latest partnership will make a welcome difference to everyone who lives in our area.”

Joe Bradley, Managing Director of Citizen Services at Northgate Public Services, added: “It is essential that local councils enhance communications and engage effectively throughout their communities, reaching out to the most vulnerable people in these times of economic hardship. Our partnerships offer councils an innovative way of working at low risk and investing in improvement. If we don’t reach our performance improvement targets, we simply don’t get paid, and we only get paid, when we deliver savings. We are committed to working in collaboration with the Council and its employees to deliver better services for the people of Ipswich.”

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For more information:

Fellows’ Associates
Kathy Sutton    +44(0)20 7324 6221; +44(0)7966 890401
Konstantinos Makrygiannis  +44(0)20 7324 6222; +44(0)7949 421356

Notes to editors

1. Ipswich is a multi-cultural centre for business, culture, entertainment and sport. With more than 130,000 residents from a diversity of communities, the county town of Suffolk is the fastest growing regional centre in the East of England. Ipswich Borough Council has a joint administration made up by Conservative and Liberal Democrat members.

2. Northgate Public Services is an innovative provider of transformation and improvement services to the public sector. It is committed to high quality public services that place individuals and their communities at their heart. Its knowledge and understanding of people’s needs are core to its business, as too, is its depth and breadth across public services.

3. Northgate’s task is to enhance public value through the intelligent use of people and technology; to understand why and what change is necessary; to provide new thinking leading to improved performance; and to link company rewards with positive outcomes for the communities for whom it works. It supports transformation through sustainable performance partnerships.

4. In the UK, Northgate works with ninety five per cent of local authorities, every police force, and a large number of health organisations, housing associations, utilities and transport companies. Founded in 1969, the company has nearly 8,000 employees.