Call centre to ring up new jobs

More than 450 jobs are to be created in the Black Country with the building of a multi-million pound new call centre on behalf of Sandwell Council.

Communications giant BT is investing £50 million in the new regional business centre.

It is part of Sandwell Council's plans to privatise its call centre, and BT will now take over the running of it.

The company plans to invest in new IT facilities and equipment, as well as build a brand new call centre for staff to manage inquiries in from the public.

The exact location of the business centre is still under discussion, the company has stated. However this matter will be finalised sometime later this year. British Telecom won the tender to run the council calls centre over rivals Fujitsu.

Jeremy Stafford, of BT Government Services, said: "BT has demonstrated its strong credentials in the local government sector, working on transformational projects with a number of local authorities.

We are confident that the public/private partnership approach delivers enormous value, both in terms of boosting efficiency and improving public services.

"We look forward to deploying our experience in the West Midlands, working with Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council on this ambitious partnering project," he added.

BT will deal with a range of calls for the council including refuse collections and anti-social behaviour reports.

It will be working with partner Liberata, and the company plough an initial £50 million into the venture in return for a contract valued at almost £300 million over 15 years.

The council and BT hope to boost access to the local authority and streamline services by making them quicker and more efficient.

A clause has been written into the contract which will see all 500 staff either seconded over to BT for a period of a few years while remaining a council employee, or, handed over to the company with the condition that they cannot be made redundant.

By Chris Howes