On Wednesday 25 July we had a special visitor to our Chatham office – Kelly Tolhurst, the MP for Rochester & Strood since 2015. The visit was fresh on the back of Kelly being promoted the previous week to become Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Previously an Assistant Whip, she was obviously thrilled and excited by her promotion.
Arriving at lunchtime she was met by Jim Appleby (Operations Director) and Paul Rodford (Head of Corporate Affairs) to settle in and hear a bit about who we are, what we do, why we do things the way we do them, and what makes us different and special. In return Kelly gave some fascinating insights into what happens when you get a new job in Government and her induction into a new department.
Kelly then had a mini-tour of our Fraud, Collections, Financial Difficulties and Specialist Support areas to hear more from colleagues about our customers and how we serve them, and how we are continuously looking to make this a better and better experience. This was particularly useful as Kelly has recently been very interested in our industry, promoting a Bill in the House of Commons to help people in financial difficulty.
Sitting down again for a wrap-up we covered a bit more about who are customers are and what they are looking to achieve, and a more general discussion around the way politicians and regulators see our industry and what they are looking to achieve.
As a major employer employing people from several close-by constituencies it is important that Vanquis has a good relationship with all of its local MPs and that they understand what the business is about and the things that can have an impact on us. All in all it was a very successful visit and ninety minutes well spent.