Liverpool Direct Limited
Liverpool Direct Limited is the joint venture company set up in 2001 between Liverpool City Council (19.9%) and BT (80.17%). Its main focus to date, has been to assist Liverpool City Council to transform the way services are provided. It has made significant financial investment to the city council in innovative technologies (over £50 million).
This unique joint venture is designed to:
- pioneer some of the most technologically advanced and innovative means of communicating with the residents and businesses of Liverpool and beyond
- help put the customer at the heart of everything the city council does
- support Liverpool City Council's organisational transformation through more efficient and effective business systems
- bring about 'joined-up government' for the people of Liverpool.
Liverpool Direct Limited is responsible for the management of a number of key council services:
A fully integrated Benefits service deals with a range of income-related benefit entitlements, including:
- housing and council tax benefits for approximately 80,000 customers
- educational awards for over 20,000 school students
- the provision of benefits advice, counter fraud and benefits overpayment recovery.
The service is rated an 'excellent' 4-star service by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate under the comprehensive performance assessment.
The Liverpool Direct Contact Centre provides access by telephone, email and SMS to a wide and diverse range of services to Liverpool residents and businesses, as well as the millions of tourists and visitors to the city every year. It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year and answers over 2.5 million calls per year. It provides high-quality, first point of contact resolution.
The network of 11 one stop shops provides high-quality, first point of contact services citywide, fulfilling over 350,000 requests for services each year. All one stop shops are fully Disability Discrimination Act compliant and are equipped with interactive kiosks. Vulnerable, disabled and hard-to-reach groups can be catered for through the provision of Language Line, BSL Level 3 trained customer service advisers, minicom services, large print and Braille documentation.
The Geodata team is responsible for the development and maintenance of our Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and spatial data management, including Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG). Other work includes GIS system management and support, corporate web-based GIS systems and business applications, mapping development and production, and spatial data management.
The Human Resources and Payroll service offers a comprehensive range of support services to the council, including job analysis and design, recruitment and selection with assessment support and employment legislation advice and guidance. The Payroll service provides a comprehensive managed payroll and pension service to all council employees and schools.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) service provides the council and schools with a comprehensive managed service, application support, technical design, service design, service support and network support. The service works to industry standards of best-practice including Prince2 and ITIL. The ICT service has introduced dark fibre optics, mirror data centres, voice over IP and the very latest server technologies.
The Learning and Development team is responsible for the management and delivery of the council's training function. It has developed a comprehensive suite of learning and development opportunities, working closely with others in the development of work-based, academically accredited management development courses. The team has been instrumental in assisting the city council achieve Investors In People status. Training courses are delivered by highly qualified trainers, with specialist knowledge and experience.
The Revenues service collects around £300m of revenues on behalf of Liverpool City Council. For business rates, it is in the upper quartile in terms of performance (99.4%) and the collection of council tax has improved by 5.4% in three years. During 2006/07, the Revenues service reduced council tax arrears by £13.4m, collected £18.9m sundry debts and reduced rent arrears by nearly £0.5m.
Web Services is responsible for the development, hosting and management of the council's website, specialising in web accessibility and content management services. It is also responsible for the Capital of Culture website, www.liverpool08.com, which has seen visits more than double during 2006. Visits to www.liverpool.gov.uk have increased by nearly 200,000 per month and continue to increase year-on-year.
Liverpool Direct's contract with Liverpool City Council runs until 31 March 20017. However, Liverpool Direct Limited operates across both the public and private sector delivery services. This includes organisations such as Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Security Industry Authority, Stockport Council, schools, Amateur Boxing Association of England and Mid-Suffolk District Council.