Shortlist announced for CCS Awards and U&T Awards

Both the CCS and the U&T Awards winners will be announced together at the Vulnerability Awareness Gala, sponsored by Experian, which will be the last awards of Credit Festival.

Both awards programmes will once again champion outstanding work in supporting customers in vulnerable circumstances, whose finances and mental wellbeing are continually affected by the pandemic. Categories throughout both awards will also recognise the huge efforts and feats performed by collections teams to transform, overnight in some cases, to working from home policies with thousands of customer service agents.

In recognition of these transformations, there are new categories for both the CCS and the U&T Awards, such as Best Use of Technology - Business Continuity, and Best Vulnerable Customer Support Initiative - Covid-19.

To deliver Credit Strategy’s objective of bringing collections professionals together across multiple industries, and ensure winners receive recognition across the largest audience, there are three categories this year that have been judged by the independent judging panels of both awards schemes.

The joint categories, where the winners will have been voted as best-in-class by judges from the largest banks, utilities and telecoms firms, as well as industry trade bodies, are:

* Best Conduct & Culture;

* Best Contact Centre Team;

* Vulnerability Champion.

The judging panels across both awards programmes comprise individuals in heads of collections, credit and debt sale roles at companies including Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group, Barclays, United Utilities, NewDay, The Very Group (formerly Shop Direct), British Gas, Shell Energy, SSE and Shawbrook Bank.

The Vulnerability Awareness Gala, like the recent Women in Credit Awards and Credit Awards, will be a digital interactive ceremony. Zoe Lyons, famed for her appearances on Mock the Week and Live at the Apollo, will be hosting.

The full shortlist for both awards programmes can be seen on the Vulnerability Awareness Gala website.

Sponsors and supporters of the Vulnerability Awareness Gala include Experian, Just, Ardent Credit Services, Lantern and ALPHERA Financial Services.