Case Studies

Council Tax Mailing

About the Client

Central Mailing Services have a number of long-standing contracts with several councils, which is a key part of the extensive work we undertake in the public sector. This Midlands based council has repeatedly awarded Central Mailing Services their annual campaign for mailing out their time sensitive Council Tax, Business Rates and Housing Benefits mailings.

Details of the Work

The mailing itself has a number of different sections consisting of not only the main Household Council Tax mailing, but also Annual Business Rates and various Benefit letters. The A4 letters are personalised in mono to the front and back and the envelopes will also include a number of specific generic inserts, generally being either A5 or folded A4 in format. The letters and accompanying inserts are enclosed into an Oversize C5 window envelope and it is critical that the mailing is released by the pre-agreed dates set each year at the planning meeting between CMS and the Council.

Data security is paramount to the client due to the confidential nature of the mailing therefore we have worked closely with the council to agree SLAs and complete extensive data security documentation, something that we have mastered and had in place long before GDPR came to the market place.

The end client also requires Central Mailing Services to store a significant number of pallets prior to the start date of the mailing run. The Generic inserts and envelopes are printed and delivered well in advance of the mailing, to ensure there are no hold up or delays to dispatch.

The Solution from CMS

High speed envelope enclosing has been a core activity for Central Mailing Services since the business started.  Our continual plant investment has seen the business continue to grow at a vast pace and as a result CMS now have 5 envelope enclosing machines, 4 BB300 machines equipped with top of the range 4-way camera matching technology and integrity platforms, in addition to our Kern 3500 which can carry out selective insertion and in line folding at extremely high speed. This high-volume annual billing mailing was carried out across 2 of our BB300 Machines, using the latest MTS camera systems, the mailing was verified by camera and enclosed securely, with the Council’s dedicated Senior Account Manager providing continual detailed reports of the work completed and dispatch.  Any physical spoils were recorded and documented and the integrity reports from the camera systems were sent to the client. The envelope enclosing machines that we used are able to enclose up to 8 individual items and therefore coped with the extra 3 to 5 inserts in addition to the main letter without issue. The mailing was released as per the pre agreed schedule, and our CCTV footage of Goods Out captured the vehicle loading, as part of the final documented audit log of the work as it passed through the production centre.

The Result

The Council were once again extremely happy with the both mailing and the continual updates from the Account Manager. Our ability to provide real time reporting and a clear audit trail of the work is a great asset for the council team. The staff at the council knew exactly what records had been sent on each day and could therefore brief the front desk teams accordingly. This reduced the waiting time and enquiries for the council which was a key objective for the mailing.  The fast, competitively priced and secure and accurate service provided by Central Mailing Services ensured that the mailing was a completely worry-free process for the council team.