Camden Council is enhancing its customer service operations through new technology and a relationship-focused approach, according to a report presented at the Resources and Corporate Performance Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, 16 September 2025.

The council's vision is to become a more relational organisation, with Contact Camden championing citizen experience excellence. Contact Camden handles over half a million citizen interactions each year.

Several steps have been taken to transform the customer experience:

  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system: The introduction of the CRM opened the door to more connected customer journeys, allowing Customer Relationship Officers (CROs) to look back across the contact history of a resident to better inform their conversation.
  • New target operating model: Introduced in May 2024, the new model configured the service to address citizen need, rather than arbitrarily by service, delivering a new capability to address complex demand whilst also tackling the issue of overspecialised teams and unbalanced performance.
  • Omnichannel platform: Also introduced in May 2024, the new omnichannel platform, Liberty Converse, allows staff to handle interactions dynamically across channels to improve experience and productivity.
  • Citizen Experience Framework: Contact Camden worked with Service Design colleagues to design and implement the Citizen Experience Framework, a toolkit through which to assess and improve citizen experience within services.

The report noted that overall contact demand increased by 1% in 2024, but that this varied by service. Transactional services saw the biggest changes, which can be credited to channel shift. For example, parking permits demand decreased by 24% as customers are increasingly able to self-serve independently. On the other hand, council tax demand remained stable year on year.

The report also highlighted the success of the new relational working model, with examples of deeper, more holistic support being provided to citizens. One case study highlighted a gentleman who was unable to renew his Blue Badge online, and the member of staff was able to support him to complete his renewal over the phone, refer him for support through the Sensory Needs team, and make him aware of other services such as Careline, Taxi Card and Occupational Therapy.

Year on year, there has been a decrease in the overall average time to answer within the contact centre of 18%. The percentage of calls that have been answered overall has risen by 14%.

Improvements have been made leveraging the Liberty Converse system, including the implementation of the Auto-Attendant, which allows citizens to say the name of the service or individual they wish to speak to and will route the call appropriately.

In early 2025 the service launched the webchat channel as a pilot for the Rents and Leaseholders services.

Another channel available to citizens is the provision of face to face services at 5 Pancras Square.

Camden's overall CSAT score for Contact Camden improved by 14% year on year, a positive indicator of the success of our new operating structure and technological changes.

The next significant development for citizen experience in Camden is the implementation of the Liberty Converse CX platform, a next generation system, providing the service with access to AI enhanced journeys which span voice and digital communications.

During the meeting, the committee also considered its work programme for 2025/26 and agreed to add Contact Camden and communications, and debt and financial resilience to the work programme. The committee also noted the action Resources and Corporate Performance Action Tracker.