The collaboration between Ealing Council and London Councils on the Out of Hours framework has won a national excellence award at the Government Opportunities Awards.
The Out of Hours and Related Customer Call Handling Framework Contract was awarded to Vangent Limited by Ealing on September 8 2008.
Capital Ambition acknowledges the efforts of the London Boroughs of Waltham Forest and Barking & Dagenham who worked with Ealing on the procurement. To see what advantages Out of Hours can offer you, please read our document 'Out of Hours - London Framework Contract - main features', which is available below.
About the service
This service is available to all London Boroughs that wish to access it. The Framework Agreement also covers other London government institutions and NGOs such as Housing Associations. Generally, it is available to all those organisations that are members of the London Contracts & Supplies Group
The new service operates on a detailed ‘price list/schedule of rates’, in accordance with high service standards. It replaces costly separate call handling arrangements in each participating borough, reducing their costs to an average of one third of the current level Charges will reduce further as more organisations join.
Capital Ambition facilitated the specification and tendering of the Framework, under the direction of the Customer Services for London Group (which is composed of senior customer services staff from all of the London boroughs). The project was delivered to a relatively small budget.
Organisations currently using the service are:
London boroughs: Barking & Dagenham, Ealing, Haringey, Havering, Lambeth, Southwark and Tower Hamlets;
Housing organisations: Homes for Haringey and Peabody.
This service is provided from Vangent’s central London call centre facility which already provides Southwark Council's call services.
Contact
Bernard Diamant
bernard.diamant@btinternet.com
A Year of Delivery and Savings (Powerpoint slides) - slides from a highly successful event held on 10 March 2010 for other London organisations which are interested in using the service.
Project Evaluation Report - March 2010 - The service is providing savings of between £100k and £200k per participating borough. The report provides:
- comparison of actual performance versus the original business case and plan for the project; and
- lessons learnt and recommendations for similar joint procurements and operations.
This report is based particularly on extensive feedback from participating organisations, for which we are very grateful.
Main Features 
Presentations from A Year of Delivery and Savings 