Three Richmond Housing Partnership employees have completed ‘ambassador’ training through the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre to help keep young people safe online. RHP says that it is the first housing provider to take part in CEOP training to provide advice and support to its customers.
The CEOP Centre is part of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). It works with agencies across the UK to promote safe online practice to reduce cyber-bullying and the sexual abuse of children.
Ian Whiteway, head of ASB, Richmond Housing Partnership, said, “This is a great opportunity to raise awareness about the issue of internet safety across our area. Our aim is to make our customers more confident about the steps they can take to protect their loved ones online, and to give strong guidance and support for all ages when it comes to surfing the net.”
Richmond Housing will soon begin training local Police and council representatives on how to promote online safety as well as visiting schools and voluntary groups across Richmond and Hounslow. This follows a partnership with Microsoft volunteers earlier this year to deliver presentations on key online safety messages to Mears operatives and other local agencies.
Award-winning customer service
Richmond Housing has been awarded ‘small contact centre of the year’ at the European Call Centre and Customer Service Awards 2012.
Jonathan Creaser, head of ICT, Richmond Housing Partnership, said, “We feel our hard-working contact centre team has received the recognition it deserves with this award. Listening to customers and front line teams has enabled us to deliver an exceptional level of customer service.
“Our NEC unified communications system has helped us build better customer relationships, especially with the preferred agent feature which directs callers to the person they spoke to previously. If the contact centre is particularly busy, the number of agents can be expanded by diverting calls to other extensions in the building. In exceptional cases, if a call is not answered within 30 seconds the customer can request a call back.”
