2024 UK National Contact Centre Award Winners Announced

At the biggest awards evening celebrating UK contact centre industry talent, the UK National Contact Centre Awards 2024, the AA, Vodafone and Newcastle Strategic Solutions all took away multiple Gold awards.

The winners of the industry’s largest and most respected awards programme were announced at Old Billingsgate on the banks of the River Thames in Central London, hosted by TV presenter Stephen Mulhern.

“Congratulations to all the winners of these awards, what you are achieving is ground breaking,” said one of the Head Judges, Jason Mann, Operations Director at PIB Group.

“Simply being nominated for these prestigious awards demonstrates how valuable you are as an individual or a team. On Monday night we celebrated our industry’s talent with more than 1,200 industry professionals following six weeks of judging.

“We have an independent team of highly experienced and knowledgeable volunteer judges who met all the finalists when they heard their stories and interviewed them.”

Amongst the winners were Jac Ridley from The AA, who won Contact Centre Manager of the Year in a small contact centre, Laura Halls from Vodafone, who won the Contact Centre Manager of the Year in a large contact centre, and Marco Ndrecaj from SSCL, who was recognized as the Contact Centre Leader of the Year.

Marco, Director of Customer Experience Management Services at SSCL, said: “I can’t believe it. We’re having an outstanding year at SSCL and I have an incredible team in our contact centres. Thank you to the judges for recognizing me and the passion I have for our centres, and our industry.”

SSCL also picked up Gold for their Best Approach to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.

Newcastle Strategic Solutions won Gold with their Trainer of the Year and the Learning Manager of the Year and went on to win a third Gold with their Most Effective New Employee Experience.

Catherine Lyndsay, Operations Director, said: “I’m so proud of Rachel and Kizzy for their Gold wins and to the whole team for what they do for our colleagues and clients every day. Thank you to the judges to making the experience both enjoyable and rewarding too.”

Picking up a total of eight trophies on the night, Vodafone won a second Gold in the Leadership Team of the Year in a large contact centre and went on to win a further four Silvers and two Bronzes.

Also having an incredible night was Sage, who picked up Gold in both the Service and the Sales Team Manager of the Year categories before winning a further four Silvers.

The Best Approach to Supporting Vulnerable Customers was won by Octopus Energy. The judges reported that this was an incredibly strong category where the utilities sector swept the board.

The ceremony finished with a surprised Interact winning Gold for Best Contact Centre Culture small and large respectively.

Michael Pollock at Interact said: “This is an absolute honour. To be recognized for our culture amongst the phenomenal brands in our category has blown our minds. A huge thanks to everyone in the contact centre for engaging with everything we do and helping to make it a really brilliant place to work. We’ll be celebrating this for months, if not years!”

Ascensos, Barclaycard, Beneden Health, BT, British Gas, Caravan and Motorhome Club, Fibrus, HM Land Registry, Homeprotect and Concentrix, IKEA, Liberata, Likewize, Novuna, Octopus Energy, PPL PRS, Specsavers, Teleperformance, TUI and Welsh Water all came away with Gold awards from the evening.

“The UK contact centre industry is full of incredibly talented, patient and adaptable professionals, and it’s an enormous pleasure to be able to recognize the remarkable work they do serving their customers,” said Leigh Hopwood, CEO of the CCMA (Call Centre Management Association), organizers of these awards and the body representing UK contact centre professionals.

“These awards are all about the people and we witnessed that throughout the evening – the atmosphere was warm and galvanizing. Congratulations to all the winners, Bronze, Silver and Gold. And huge thanks to all our judges for the time and professionalism that they bring to the process to identify the top individuals, teams and programmes. We will of course be exploring ways to share the stories of some of those that won.”

Guests were treated to a stunning evening with a drinks reception in the sunshine on the Terrace overlooking the River Thames before Stephen Mulhern entertained them as the winners were announced. Guests also raised over £3,000 for Refuge, which was matched by Genesys on the night..

Finalists took to social media to further celebrate their success:

• “What a night! Had the best time and so proud to have achieved the bronze award and to be in the top 3 at the UK National Contact Centre Awards!” – Abbie Harper, UK Power Networks
• “If there is any award I would want to win it’s this! The wellbeing of our people is the most important thing and to be recognized for this give me an enormous sense of pride!” – Emma Wilson, Specsavers
• “’I’m absolutely elated to come second as Quality Manager of the Year” – Zoe Muddle, Motorway

Craig Pumfrey, VP of Corporate Marketing at Headline Sponsor Sabio, said: “It is wonderful to be able to recognize those individuals whose hard work and dedication make the contact centre industry what it is today – a hugely successful and vibrant industry which has been especially crucial to the UK over these past few years.

“We are delighted to be headline sponsors once again this year, and we extend our congratulations to all the winners and highly commended individuals and organizations that have shown talent, resilience, and success throughout the last 12 months.”

Click here for a full list of winners and photos of the event.