Entering the third month of the new NCrS contract, David Leadbetter, Contract Manager, talks about the successes and the challenges the team have faced.

Across Cumbria, Lancaster and Morecambe the National Careers Service delivery teams have worked hard to navigate successfully the first month of this new contract.  Training on the new ESyNCS customer relationship management (CRM) database has taken place, and across the County the telephone advice service has been implemented successfully, operating between the hours of 8am and 6pm.

Thank you to all who have managed emerging, and at times, challenging processes, in doing so you have ensured that customers continue to receive excellent service, which is reflected in the positive feedback we have had from customers across Cumbria, Lancaster and Morecambe.

An important aspect of managing the NCrS contract is developing partnerships and new business opportunities which enable us to meet the priority and non priority targets.  Across the contract area, National Careers Service delivery staff have been developing activity to support DWP and the introduction of Universal Credit.  National Careers Service has once again supported the latest delivery of Ready for Work in West Cumbria, and it is the lynch pin of the redundancy support packages offered to employers, most recently HMRC.

As we move towards the New Year, challenges remain such as bedding-in a new CRM system, evidencing outcomes, launching a new Quality Toolkit, managing caseloads and generating reports.  However, just one month in and we’ve every reason to feel confident. Customers are being seen, work is being recorded and service users continue to be happy with the service received.