Out of Hours Caller Call Handling Services Contract Reference 1157

Tender description

Ealing Council has worked with its partners to deliver quality and value in the context of its long standing outsourced framework for the provision of a high quality and value for money out of hours call handling shared service. High levels of quality are important for the current users of the framework and will be equally important for any potential new joiners. The current framework is hosted by the London Borough of Ealing and is used by Ealing, Barnet, Tower Hamlets, Kensington and Chelsea, Haringey, Havering, Enfield and Waltham Forest Councils and Peabody Housing, Wandle Housing, and Homes for Haringey. As the Councils come to the end of a successful period of 6 years of working together they are looking to renew the arrangement and to offer the opportunity for other public bodies to join it. In order to maximise the efficiency of the arrangement the new supplier may be required to undertake integration of the call centre service with the back office function of each individual council. Across the UK all Councils and Housing Sector Arm’s Length Management Organisations (ALMO) s offer an out of hour’s service. The Council is aiming that its new arrangement is open to use by all of these bodies and consequently this procurement represents a major opportunity. Some bodies retain the service in-house whilst others have sub-let or work in partnerships with other organisations to provide a service. This Out of Hours Service is exceptional in that all transactions are auditable and fully computerised in the overall management of both telephone and data systems. Keywords: call handling, out of hours