BT Customer Inclusion Leadership Panel – Annual Statement 2014-15
Introduction
BT has an enviable track record in developing products and services and
employment initiatives that include and benefit disabled and older people. It
has been at the forefront of national policy discussions on the issue and is
seen as a exemplar organisation by many other commercial, voluntary and
public sector organisations.
In order to ensure that BT remains at the forefront of social inclusion, both at a
policy and product development level, it has continued to meet regularly with
a group of disability and older people experts. The Customer Inclusion
Leadership Panel is now entering its fifth year of operation and, apart from
one change in personnel, the original members continue to act as ‘critical
friends’ to the organisation.
This annual statement is an opportunity for Panel members to reflect on its
performance, value and outcomes.
The Panel’s remit
The Panel scrutinises BT’s activities and challenges practices, which
potentially exclude rather than explicitly include.
It provides independent guidance and uses the member’s expert advice to:
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Enhance BT’s customer inclusion strategy, including policy, measures
and targets, governance, stakeholder relationships and external
communications.
Recommend areas of improvement, research and product
development
Drive thought leadership on hot topics, ensuring that BT tackles difficult
issues.
Panel meetings
At the end of last year’s annual statement the Panel suggested that future
challenges included the need to:
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Explore technologies that can enhance independent living opportunities
without compromising an individual’s privacy.
Ways to help families with disabled or vulnerable older members use
technology to enhance their sense of security without it feeling like
surveillance.
Try to tackle social isolation by using the latest communication devices
but ensure they are reliable, simple and convenient to use.

Ensure that all of BT’s services and ways of interacting with them are
simple and easy to use.
In order to work on the issues mentioned above the Panel met three times
including January 2015. Discussion topics have included providing support for
vulnerable customers. This focused on areas such as Power of Attorney,
managing unwanted calls, providing appropriate support to distressed
customers and improvements to the priority repair service.
The Panel also focused on the importance of digital inclusion, particularly as it
affects older people online and the need for broadband to be affordable for
customers on low incomes.
The Panel also discussed BT’s Including You strategy, the use of technology
to better enable independent living (ALFI, location devices), the future for
communication services in the home and the next Generation Text service.
We’ve been pretty busy!
Reflections
We believe that the Panel has once again played an important part in helping
BT to address some of the challenges mentioned earlier.
The Panel and BT remain totally committed to ensuring that the needs of
older people, disabled people and other vulnerable customers are considered
as new services and new technologies are developed.
Panel members continue to feel that BT is serious about improving its
services to its vulnerable customers. This is evident from the numbers of
senior BT staff who have attended meetings and who have been open and
honest when sharing their thoughts and ideas.
We also believe that the Panel’s advice has been acted on and this has led to
improvements in outcomes for all concerned.
Future Challenges
The Panel has been operational for nearly five years and the time is now right
to undertake a review in order to ensure it is fit for purpose. BT and the Panel
need to discuss the Panel’s composition, remit and future objectives.
As new technologies are introduced, and with them come new services, it is
crucial that BT plays its part in ensuring that its vulnerable customers are not
left behind.
BT has developed a successful recruitment and retention strategy for disabled
people, BT has a disability network run by disabled people. It is possible that
the links between disabled staff and customer service developments could be
strengthened in order to use the knowledge of the disabled workforce.
Membership
Paul Farmer, CEO MIND
Dr Phil Friend OBE FRSA, Director, Phil & Friends Ltd
Dr Lorraine Gailey, CEO Hearing Link
Baroness Sally Greengross, CEO ILC-UK (up to July 2014)
Nigel Lewis, CEO AbilityNet
Harry Meade, Corporate Partnerships, RNIB
Kate Nash OBE, consultant, Kate Nash Associates
James Partridge, CEO Changing Faces
David Sinclair, Director ILC-UK (from July 2014)