Business process outsourcer The Capita Group has announced that it is to deliver audience services for the BBC for a further 9 years.

The contract, worth around £5m annually, was awarded after an EU-wide tendering process.

Capita provides services to the BBC to handle all complaints, comments and enquiries as well as providing action lines for issue-related programming, audience management and ticketing along with daily content feedback to the BBC from viewers and listeners.       
Paul Pindar, chief executive of the Capita Group, says: “We have been running the audience services contract for the BBC for 10 years now. The service now runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and employs in the region of 200 staff who can take up to 40,000 calls per month. Interactive voice recognition (IVR) software and self service facilities have freed up staff time, allowing a greater focus on value-added services, while increased efficiencies have enabled us to generate and absorb a substantial growth in contact capacity.”