Content

To extend the contract by one year as per the
current contract

Reasons for the decision

Our supplier provides us with a 24/7/365
telephone information service for Revenues and Benefits. Only
callers that cannot find the information they need come through to
an agent in CSC. In the last 12 months it has taken 46982 calls of
which only 10234 have continued to speak to a person ie 78% handled
by the phone line in their entirety. There is also a facility for
information to be left out of hours. The variation is to extend for
a further year. We do not have the resources to remove the service,
which represents good value for money.

Alternative options considered

The current contract is performing well.
Alternatives would be:
To bring in house. If an agent takes 10 calls per hour we would
need an additional 3675 hours of resource (around 2 to 2.5 FTE).
There would also be a loss of 24/7/365 service. The cost of
extending is cheaper.
Tender for a new contract. The supplier is specialist in Revenues
and Benefits and has worked with us to set up and deliver our
bespoke scripts. We do not know how the unitary will want to
deliver the service. Extending is a pragmatic option.