Labour in Leeds

Leeds Labour Group leader Cllr Keith Wakefield has today condemned the Tory-LibDem Coalition in control of the Council for making a profit from calls made to their flagship call centre, “Contact Leeds”.  

In a white paper discussed at a full meeting of Council, Cllr Wakefield slamed the Coalition’s continued use of 0845 numbers at the contact centre and demand they be scrapped as soon as possible.

In addition to the profit the administration made, people who call 0845 numbers from landlines and mobile phones can face very high charges of up to 50p a minute.   

Cllr Wakefield also revealed that following an investigation by the Labour Group it was discovered that 26% of calls to the contact centre are chase up’s to previous inquiries, meaning that the potential cost to Leeds residents could be significantly more than was previously thought.  

Councillor Keith Wakefield (Leader of Leeds Labour Group) said: “It is an absolute disgrace that these expensive 0845 numbers are still being used by the Tory-LibDem Coalition at the contact centre and that they are profiting to the tune of thousands of pounds.   

“One call on a 0845 number from a non BT Landline is dear enough, but ringing from a mobile is even worse with residents being hit by charges of up to 50p a minute. And what is worse is that these charges are hitting residents even more than we thought, given our recent discovery that 26% of calls to the contact centre are in-fact chase-up’s to previous inquires.  

“The Coalition owes the hard working people of Leeds who are paying the Council every time they call them up an apology for their continued mismanagement of the contact centre. The 0845 debacle, coupled with their failure to deliver on their promise of a ‘golden number’ or a 24-hour, seven days a week operation is a shambles, which need to be investigated as soon as possible.” 

Councillor Andrea McKenna (Labour Group People’s Champion) said: "I have been out and about talking to people about the call centre and I was horrified to find that 84% of people had never even heard of Contact Leeds.  Even worse was that the same number had no idea how much it cost to call a 0845 number and some even thought it was free. 

“I wasn't surprised however, to discover that every single person I spoke to thought it was wrong for the Administration to make a profit from these calls, I hope that these figures give the Administration cause for concern and that they abandon 0845 numbers right now.” 

In the Leeds Liberal Democrat’s Fairer, Cleaner, Safer City manifesto for Leeds they said: “We would commit the Council to providing a single number call centre operation, 24 hours, seven days a week to ensure that council services are delivered in a more responsive, efficient way.” 

The Labour group asked the Coalition over a year ago that the 0845 numbers be removed and that a cheaper alternative be found.