CSA announces Award winners 

The winners of the 2023 Credit Services Association (CSA) Awards which is hosted as part of the trade body’s annual conference – the UK Credit and Collections Conference (UKCCC) – have been announced following a live event held at the Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport.

The 2023 CSA Awards celebrated the outstanding work and commitment of staff and teams within its membership organisations.

The Lowell Financial Customer Engagement Centre picked up the CSA Team Award for demonstrating high levels of service, quality, dedication and outstanding teamwork – with the awards judges highly commending entries from the Perch Group’s Compliance & Risk Teamand ZZPS.

The CSA Innovation Award, recognising high levels of creativity, adaptability and inventiveness – was awarded to NotifyNOW (Phillips & Cohen Associates (UK) Ltd), with entries for Darren Wilson and the Lowell Financial Ltd Continuous Improvement & RPA Team,and Finvence (in association with United Kash), being highly commended.

Focusing upon the importance of training and development within firms, the Kim MacMillan Award recognises outstanding apprentices, team leaders, or a team of learning and development practitioners who have given an outstanding contribution to Learning and Development in their company. CDER Group Ltd’s Training & Development Team took home the top prize in this category, with Daniela Ferrer Francisco of NCO Europe Ltd being highly commended by the judges.

For 2023 the CSA Awards introduced three sub-categories within the CSA Merit Award, with Jacqueline McConnell (STA International) picking up the award for the Working with Vulnerable Customers category, and Rhianne Forbes (Cabot Financial) winning the Complaints Handlingcategory.

The Customer Engagement sub-category within the Merit Award section went to John Newman of Global Debt Recovery Limited, with Dawn Turner (Ardent Credit Services Ltd) and Kym Wilde (Lantern Debt Recovery Services Ltd) being highly commended.

There were also awards for CSA Members’ performances in the Collector Accreditation Initiative (CAI) – an online test assessing debt collectors’ knowledge and scope of understanding of compliance – awarded to companies who achieved the highest rates of distinctions scores (over 90%) in their tests over the previous 12 months.

The CAI Award for companies with fewer than 100 collectors saw first place going to coeo | uk, withRestons Solicitors Limited in second and Bluestone Consumer Finance Ltd in third.

For firms with more than 100 collectors, Lantern Debt Recovery Services Ltd took home the first place award, with Moorcroft Debt Recovery Ltd in second place and Link Financial Outsourcing Ltd in third.

Commenting on the Awards, CSA CEO Chris Leslie said: “Collections specialists work in a sensitive field that requires a high level of professionalism, patience and expertise so recognising these skills and marking the significant work undertaken is very important – and the judges were highly impressed with the care and attention that so many bring to customer service. All the CSA Award winners have positive stories to tell and it is a credit to the dedication of teams and individuals in the sector that their hard work is being recognised in this way.”

The evening also saw the presentation of CSA Honorary Memberships to Denise Crossley and John Ricketts.  

Denise Crossley was first appointed as CSA Treasurer in 1991 and elected as CSA Vice-President in 1995. Denise was re-elected to the CSA Council in June 1999 and served until June 2003, and re-elected to the CSA Board in 2010, and remained as an elected board member for the maximum of three terms before standing for one final term by special-resolution at the recommendation of the Board as a testament to her knowledge and contribution. Denise retired from the board in February 2023.

John Ricketts was elected to the CSA Board in 2009, and subsequently elected Vice-President in 2014. Having served the full three-year extended term as Vice-President, he was then elected as President in 2017, and served three years in the role. John was also nominated to serve one final three-year term by the Board of the Association by special resolution, ratified by the members, so that he could continue to serve the industry and members. John retired from the board in February 2023 after nearly 14 years of continuous service.

Chris Leslie said “Awarding two Honorary Memberships to Denise and John is the Association’s way of thanking them for their long-service and commitment to raising standards and outcomes for customers, their contribution has been remarkable and we are delighted to present Honorary Memberships to both.”