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Date

Start Time

Duration

The efficiency imperative: driving impact via data driven outreach With increasing demand and shrinking resources, councils face growing pressure to deliver impactful support to vulnerable residents efficiently.

In this webinar, we explore how data driven outreach campaigns can help local authorities overcome these challenges and achieve impactful results.

Join us to hear from two leading local government organisations as they share their experiences using Campaign Manager, a powerful new feature of the LIFT platform.

Discover how they’ve leveraged their data using intelligent analytics to identify financially vulnerable residents, streamline their outreach processes, and maximise both resident outcomes and cost savings.

This session will cover:

- Strategies to manage rising demand with limited resources
- How data insights can drive targeted and efficient resident support
- Real world results from councils using Campaign Manager for impactful outreach campaigns

Join us to learn how your council can also turn insights into action and make smarter, data-driven decisions to support your communities.

With guest speakers:

- Seth Pearson, Darlington Partnership Director, Darlington Borough Council
- Sarah Small, Darlington Partnership Programme Officer, Darlington Borough Council
- Fahmida Rahman, Senior Policy Officer, Greater London Authority

26/3/2025

10:30am GMT

1.3 hours

Protecting vulnerable consumers in regulated sectors

30/4/2025

10:30am BST

1.3 hours

Harnessing data for regional impact: empowering local leaders to drive change Devolution is one of the core missions of the new government, promising a strong focus on giving local areas more control over services. To tackle economic inactivity, and with many people across the UK needing support, it’s vital that local authorities deliver effective, targeted interventions. The success of tailored, region-specific approaches depends on how well local areas can harness data to drive change.

Local organisations, from Mayoral Combined Authorities to county councils, need to deliver these crucial services. Accessing and using the data insights required to implement efficient and effective programmes is a challenge and, without localised data, decision making can become less accurate. This leads to inefficient resource allocation and missed opportunities to reach those who need help the most.

Data analysis offers the key to overcoming these challenges. By harnessing the power of local data, authorities can get the accurate insights they need to target support where it will be most effective. With the right insights, local areas can design and deliver services that are more tailored, timely and impactful, ensuring the right residents get the right support at the right time.

Proven results from current data led initiatives already show the transformative potential of this approach.

Join this webinar to hear from guest speakers who have successfully implemented data driven campaigns. They will showcase real world examples of how they have come together to achieve measurable outcomes.

We’ll also explore how these data insights can be applied to address key issues like economic inactivity, youth unemployment and social isolation to deliver lasting change across regions.

21/5/2025

10:30am BST

1.3 hours

Anglian Water improves customer service and first time resolution

If you’re struggling to pay your water bill, you’re likely to be struggling to pay other bills, too. Taking weight off our customers’ shoulders, by helping to reduce the stress of debt, is incredibly rewarding.

Challenge

Anglian Water introduced LITE and Extra LITE tariffs to support customers with low disposable incomes who were struggling to pay their water bills. Although discounts were available to reduce both water and sewerage charges, not all eligible customers were accessing the concessionary tariffs.

Historically, eligibility assessments were, after an initial customer engagement from Anglian Water, handled by the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). Following referral, CAB advisors would review customers’ income and expenditure to determine eligibility for discounted tariffs and undertake a benefit maximisation.

The outsourced process was, at times, fragmented and occasionally didn’t meet the standards expected by the water company in allowing them to deliver the robust customer support they desired.Even when the process worked well, it occasionally didn’t align with Anglian Water’s customer-centric values. A time lag meant that it was impossible to quickly make and communicate decisions about discounts.

Solution

Anglian Water needed to find a solution that could be tailored to meet the specific needs of their customers and the care teams who supported them. Following a conference presentation of Policy in Practice’s Better Off Calculator, the two companies collaborated to create a bespoke solution built on the Advisor version of the tool.

The water company introduced the calculator in 2019 to promote customer service with genuine connectivity and prevent disengagement. Bringing assessments in-house meant Anglian Water was better able to control the process, giving customers the support needed on their first contact.

Guiding Anglian Water’s teams through customer telephone conversations, the Calculator can, within minutes, assess eligibility for and calculate the recommended value of social tariffs, improving the customer journey and reducing operational costs. An efficient social tariff process frees up resources to allow them to provide wider affordability support.

Policy in Practice’s Better Off Calculator is an intuitive system with minimal training required for effective onboarding. In fact, the Calculator has even functioned as a training tool for the Anglian Water team by:

Promoting a better understanding of the benefits system and other available support
Acting as a dynamic prompt during calls, a significant improvement on a static PDF
Helping support staff to articulate responses to customer questions

Impact

With the previous system, 35% of customers did not attend their initial discount eligibility appointments with the CAB. Following the introduction of the Better Off Calculator, because staff can carry out speedy assessments while the customer is still on the phone, that drop-out rate has been reduced to zero.

Reducing the time and effort required to complete assessments has boosted Anglian Water’s efficiency, too. The Calculator check takes, at most, ten minutes to complete. By comparison, a CAB appointment would have taken around an hour. These efficiencies have significantly increased Anglian Water’s reach. Each year, around 32,000 customers can now be assessed using the Calculator.

The Anglian Water team is empowered, now, to offer direct customer support – helping them to complete applications and signposting them to online services, rather than referring them to a third party. There’s also a ‘self-serve’ option for customers who’d prefer to independently submit their data for assessment.

In 2019, Anglian Water introduced an Extra Care Team with the remit of reaching out to customers who, though not yet in debt, had been identified as needing additional support. Between April and December, last year, 60% of customers called by the Extra Care Team qualified for concessionary tariffs. A preventative approach, proactively reaching out to signpost benefits and ensuring income maximisation, will gain importance as living costs soar.

The Calculator has become an indispensable tool for Anglian Water’s field teams, too, who can now support customers by offering assessments during house calls.

Data from the Calculator helps to inform management decisions at Anglian Water, calculating the impact of adjusting the income thresholds for accessing discounts.

Support teams, able to access information about disposable income, are better able to calculate an affordable repayment plan and helping customers access the appropriate discount band has significantly reduced arrears for Anglian Water.

“We’ve never looked back. The Better Off Calculator is an essential tool to navigate customers through the cost of living crisis. It’s so much better for the customers.”

Spencer Hough, Head of Billing and Collections, Anglian Water