Government Advertises £2,000-a-Day Role to Save ‘Failing Call Centres’

The Department of Health and Social Care is hiring a VP of operations on £2,000 a day to improve “failing call centres”, according to a recent job advert.

The ad, publicised on LinkedIn via recruiter Quast Ltd, states that candidates must have “experience (and evidence) of turning around failing call centres,” and “running call centres of 18,000,” as well as being “someone who has examples of quick wins.”

The contract lasts until the 31st of March 2021, and offers a rate of “up to £2,000/day”.

The advert comes as Boris Johnson admits that improvements need to be made to NHS Test and Trace. At a Downing Street press conference this week, the Prime Minister said that he understood the public’s “frustrations” with the contact tracing system, and that “faster turnaround times” are needed.

In May, Johnson claimed that a “world-beating” NHS Test and Trace system would be in place by the 1st of June. But as coronavirus cases reach a second peak in the UK, the system is still struggling. The most recent government data shows that in the seven-day period between the 8th and 14th of October, 80.7 percent of named contacts were reached. In the week prior to this, just 62.6 percent were reached.

VICE News contacted the Department of Health and Social Care. A spokesperson said: “The text for this advert was not drafted or approved by the Department. As part of our ongoing commitment to improve services we are recruiting experienced employees with a wide range of experience, including driving high performance.”

The job ad has now been removed from LinkedIn and is in the process of being redrafted by the Department of Health and Social Care.