A COUNCIL has been shortlisted for a national award by a UK charity in recognitions of a recent bid to improve services for people with hearing loss.

Buckinghamshire County Council has been named as one of four contenders in the Organisational Achievement category at the 2014 Signature Annual Awards.

Having realised more was needed to help deaf customers dealing with its contact centre, the Council said it reviewed existing methods and decided to put a number of new measures in place, including setting up a ‘virtual team’ to deal with digital channels, such as web chat and social media, and installing a portable hearing loop.

More than 70 members of staff also received more training on techniques for responding to deaf callers.

Steve Bignell, operations manager for customer contact at Buckinghamshire County Council, said: "There has been an incredible transformation in the way that we interact with deaf service users, and everyone has worked hard to ensure these changes have a positive effect on the wider deaf community.

"It’s an honour to have our achievements recognised by Signature. Everyone at the Council is really proud of the progress that has been made so far, and we hope to inspire other local organisations to follow suit."

The winner will be announced at a prestigious ceremony at Durham Cathedral this October.

For more information, please visit: http://signatureannualawards.org.uk