Liverpool taps BT to improve social care

Liverpool's Careline receives around 20,000 calls and 10,000 emails per month

Liverpool City Council's service provision arm has closed a £33m deal with BT for the expansion of its social care call centre.

The deal will see Liverpool Direct Limited (LDL), a public-private partnership between BT and the council, continuing to support the authority's Careline service by transferring customer contact support to its contact centre to improve call handling and cut costs.

"Careline is the cornerstone of our provision of care and support to the city's most vulnerable," said Stuart Smith, executive director for children's services at Liverpool City Council.

"[The additional service provided by LDL] will benefit the service's users, as well as provide extra resources for Liverpool's citizens."

LDL has worked with Careline since 2004 on designing and rolling out its IT, and on projects such as data cleansing and the provision of remote access to electronic information to ensure that adults and children receive timely care.

The service currently receives around 20,000 calls and 10,000 emails per month.