Clearanswer

Services & Capabilities

Customer care. The core line is customer care delivered as an extension of the client's operation rather than as a separate function. The offer is built on service-quality claims a buyer can put in a contract: the firm measures customer engagement and first-call resolution so customers' expectations are exceeded, not just met. That framing positions the line around outcome metrics rather than raw call handling.

Sales and retention. Sales and retention is a distinct service line rather than a bolt-on to service, which suits subscription and utility-style accounts where churn is the commercial problem. Platform records confirm the same outbound and acquisition capability, listing the firm's service lines as Customer Support - Social Media; HR & Recruitment; Sales & Lead Generation; Technical Support; Voice - Inbound; Voice - Outbound. Treating retention as its own line is a signal that the firm sells on commercial outcome, not only on contact volume.

Back-office support. Back-office support sits alongside the customer-facing lines, which lets a single contract cover both the contact and the administrative work behind it. For a buyer, that bundling is a way to absorb surrounding process work rather than competing on voice volume alone.

Public sector. The firm is an approved supplier on the Government Commercial Agency's RM6295 Outsourced Services framework, Lot 1: Citizen Experience. The instrument's dates are published: the framework start is 2 October 2025 and the framework expiry is 1 October 2029. The firm's presence is independently verifiable because the official supplier list names CLEARANSWER CALL CENTRES LIMITED. That listing is the most commercially significant credential in the profile, because it is an external buyer's validation rather than a self-issued claim.

Commercial model. Pricing is scoped by the size of the campaign team (small, medium, or large) assigned to the work rather than published as a rate card. That scoping is normal for contact-centre work, and the firm's headline 39% client cost reduction is the figure a buyer would test in a pilot rather than accept on the page.

Client Base & Market Position

Client evidence. The firm states it serves some of the UK's most recognisable and trusted brands but publishes no client name, and the directory's own reference is a category rather than an account, describing the client base as several FTSE 100 companies of varying industries. A buyer therefore cannot verify the reference set from documents, which is the profile's largest commercial gap.

Independent commercial standing. The strongest third-party evidence is not a client but a buyer: the official supplier list names CLEARANSWER CALL CENTRES LIMITED as an approved supplier. The framework itself is the post-Brexit replacement regime; RM6295 is the first GCA agreement let under the Procurement Act 2023, giving buyers flexible routes to contract including direct award, and Clearanswer is listed as an approved supplier under Lot 1: Citizen Experience. Approval on a framework of that kind requires financial and compliance vetting by the buying authority, a form of validation the firm cannot self-issue.

Vertical mix. Platform records list the verticals as Education; Energy & Utilities; Manufacturing; Media & Entertainment; Telecommunications; Travel & Hospitality. The public-sector line extends that mix into central government departments, arm's length bodies, devolved administrations, the wider public sector and third sector organisations, which broadens the buyer base beyond commercial accounts.

Recognition. The directory records a BT Partner of the Year award from a telecommunications partner. That is a partner-run award rather than an independent ranking, and no equivalent recent recognition appears in the readable record, so it reads as historic rather than current proof.

Market position. Clearanswer competes for UK domestic contact work against larger UK and offshore providers, and its differentiator is the combination of British-only delivery and a certified controls estate: from its northern UK contact centres in Hull, Leeds and Middlesbrough it provides secure, scalable support for well-known brands. The directory's visibility labels for the brand are modest, and they are described here in words rather than as measured facts because the panel's rank, domain-authority, traffic and index figures are label fields that do not survive a source check.

Delivery Infrastructure & Operations

Footprint. Delivery runs from three named British sites with published addresses, which is unusually concrete for a firm of this size: the Hull address is Manor Street, HU1 1YU; the Leeds address is West 44, LS28 7UR; and the Middlesbrough address is Albert Road, TS1 1QA. The firm states it operates 3 UK contact centres, while the directory records only that the firm has also expanded its services to its Leeds office. The third centre is a real difference between the record and the firm's current estate.

Delivery model. The operating model mixes working patterns across the three centres: its flexible model combines on-site, hybrid and remote teams across Hull, Leeds and Middlesbrough. The firm frames this as reach rather than saving, offering flexible on-site, hybrid and remote delivery to reach customers whenever and however needed. For a buyer, that mix changes the supervision and resilience questions to ask.

Resilience. Multi-site operation is presented explicitly as continuity capacity: the firm's multi-site approach means it is not dependent upon a single location, and its Business Continuity Management System is certified to ISO 22301. Continuity is therefore framed as a certified system rather than only as an expansion story.

Security controls. The published control set is detailed for a firm of this size, covering access, endpoint and physical layers. The firm lists multi-factor authentication (MFA) across critical systems and physical access controls across all operational sites, and it monitors staff access to cloud systems and restricts sign-ins by location and device approval. Location- and device-restricted access speaks directly to offshore or subcontracted handling risk.

Certifications. Four standards are claimed by name. The firm names ISO/IEC 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus, states it is ISO 22301 certified, and states it is ISO 9001 certified. Payment security is stated as assessor-verified: its PCI DSS compliance is documented through SAQ D and verified by a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA). No certificate number, issuing body or audit date is published for any of them, so all four remain company-stated.

Contact-volume conflict. The directory states the firm serves over 35,000 contacts per year, against the firm's own 2M+ interactions every month, a gap of roughly three orders of magnitude, and the directory figure should be read as stale or mis-scoped. A recent expansion points the other way: in March 2026 the firm said it was deeply committed to Middlesbrough as it expanded its office and planned to create an extra 100 jobs.

Ownership, Financials & Scale

Ownership. The directory classifies the ownership as Private and names no parent or investor. The registry shows a closely held board rather than a group or sponsor structure: the officers record lists 8 officers and 2 resignations for the trading entity. The two resignations are formation agents who stood down the incorporation day, a standard registration pattern rather than a governance event; the resignation is recorded as Resigned on 1 October 2002.

Corporate details. The operating entity's registered office is 162-164 High Street, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 7BS, not the Hull operating base, which is typical of an accounting or group-registered address. The registry also classifies the company under 82990 - Other business support service activities not elsewhere classified, a second activity beyond call centres.

Revenue. The directory carries a company-listed revenue band and a separate last-reported figure, but both are directory listings rather than filed accounts, and read against the firm's own associate count the implied revenue per head is high for contact-centre work. The band and figure are therefore described here without their numbers and carried in the removed list, because a label-field band and an unfiled figure do not survive a source check and should not be treated as a planning input.

Headcount. Three statements exist: the directory's estimated band, the firm's own associate count, and the directory's own prose range. The band is a panel label and is not quoted here; the firm's own figure is the only one the company itself publishes, a workforce of more than 1000 associates employed, and it sits above the directory's band. Because the associate mix of a UK contact centre is not a filed disclosure, the headcount is company-stated rather than audited.

What the numbers imply. A three-site UK operator with more than a thousand associates and a large monthly interaction volume sits at the smaller end of the domestic contact market, consistent with a business that describes Northern roots and national impact and wins on UK delivery and controls rather than on scale economics. No public revenue figure was found.

People, Leadership & Culture

Director and company secretary. Philip John Marston is named among the officers of the trading entity, and the officers record shows the role as Active Director. The directory dates his directorship to 1999, three years before the registry's incorporation date of 1 October 2002, which is a record discrepancy rather than a disagreement about the person.

Board composition. The remaining directors have long tenures, and the recurrence of Marston and Dunk surnames indicates a closely held ownership group: the officers record names DAVIES, Jean Elizabeth; DUNK, Stephen Martin; and MARSTON, Carolyn Jane among the directors, and platform records also list Steve Dunk and Phil Marston as Directors. Continuity of that kind is a stability signal for existing clients and a succession question for new ones.

Operations leadership. The directory names the only published operating bench. It states Kirsty Young has been Clearanswer's Head of Operations since 2017, and that Luke Pickersgill has been Clearanswer's Call Center Manager since 2021. The second appointment covers supervision of the contact centre itself.

Culture and retention. The firm publishes an engagement score and internal-mobility rates, which is unusual disclosure for a private contact centre: a 47 eNPS in Q1 2026, that 96% of promotions are internal, and a +28% increase in internal progression. Internal promotion at that rate is a direct answer to the attrition problem that defines contact-centre economics, and the firm frames it around the statement that its people are its advantage.

Wellbeing programme. A named wellbeing programme supports the retention story: through Clearanswer Thrive the firm builds a connected, supportive wellbeing community across its UK sites. Its three published values are Creativity, Commitment and Connection, which are the culture programme's stated frame rather than measured outcomes.

Technology & Innovation

Technology positioning. The firm frames technology as an enabler of service consistency rather than as a product, and states that position explicitly against compliance theatre: security, in its words, is not about ticking compliance boxes or chasing acronyms. Its technology story is therefore an operations story: the firm combines experience with technology and operational insight to improve how work gets done.

Channel capability. Omnichannel handling is claimed across the contact mix. Platform records list Customer Support - Social Media; HR & Recruitment; Sales & Lead Generation; Technical Support; Voice - Inbound; Voice - Outbound as the channels and lines served, and the firm states it incorporates omnichannel platforms for efficient engagement. The capability is described as coordination across channels rather than as a named platform.

Security engineering. The published control detail is more specific than a typical badge claim, listing endpoint, patching and encryption mechanisms by category: advanced anti-virus, anti-malware, and endpoint detection & response (EDR); a comprehensive vulnerability management and patching programme; and transport-layer encryption and secure communication protocols. That level of disclosure is useful to a regulated buyer even without certificate numbers.

No proprietary platform. No named in-house product, artificial-intelligence tool or platform partnership appears anywhere in the readable record, so the firm's innovation claim rests on security and continuity engineering rather than on software. The continuity approach is at least maintained as a living system: the firm states its infrastructure and recovery arrangements are continually reviewed rather than treated as a one-off exercise.

Strategic Assessment

Strengths

• Government framework approval. An independent UK supplier list names CLEARANSWER CALL CENTRES LIMITED on the RM6295 Lot 1 citizen-experience framework, externally vetted standing the firm cannot self-issue.
• A certified controls estate. ISO 27001, ISO 22301, ISO 9001, Cyber Essentials Plus and assessor-verified PCI DSS compliance give a regulated buyer an unusually complete assurance set for a firm of this size.
• UK delivery as a deliberate choice. Three British centres with hybrid and remote options answer the data-residency and language objections offshore delivery raises for public-sector and utility buyers.
• Multi-site continuity. Three centres in different cities are presented as continuity capacity as well as growth, a real mitigation against single-site failure.
• Published engagement and mobility metrics. A 47 eNPS and 96% internal promotion are specific, checkable claims that speak directly to attrition risk in contact work.

Risks and Vulnerabilities

• No verifiable client proof. No named client, case study or measured outcome appears in the readable record, so commercial claims cannot be tested without direct references.
• Scale fields are unreliable. The directory's headcount band, revenue band and contact volume all conflict with the firm's own figures or with plausibility.
• Corporate history does not match the brand story. The operating entity begins in 2002 under a different name, against a 1998 brand history, which a buyer should reconcile before contracting.
• Certification claims are self-declared. No certificate number, body, scope or date is published for any standard.
• Closely held board with long tenures. The same family names recur across directorships, bringing continuity but also concentration and succession risk.

Opportunities

• Public-sector demand through RM6295. Framework approval, including direct-award routes, opens central government and wider public-sector work without a full competition each time.
• Regulated UK buyers. The security and continuity estate is the barrier to entry for utilities, financial services and government, and the firm has already crossed it.
• Reshoring sentiment. UK delivery is a direct answer to buyers reviewing offshore arrangements for resilience, data or reputational reasons.
• Retention as a margin lever. Internal promotion at 96% supports lower hiring and training cost than the sector norm, which can be passed to clients or held as margin.
• Cross-selling back-office alongside contact. Back-office support lets the firm absorb surrounding administrative work rather than compete on voice volume alone.

Outlook

The firm's stated direction is UK-based growth on its three northern centres: it continues to build on this foundation with three modern, efficient centres across the North. No revenue guidance, capacity target or client-acquisition commitment is published, so its trajectory has to be read from framework status and published metrics rather than from stated plans.