Case Studies

East Riding of Yorkshire - Community Text
Solution: Mobile Interactive Campaigns

East Riding of Yorkshire Council has extended its use of mobile technology with the help of Dialogue Communications’ Community Text services.  The local council introduced a multitude of SMS campaigns including rent recovery, reminder and enquiry services and the very successful ‘Text a Fraud’ campaign - implemented to combat the rising problems of benefit fraud in the county.

The ‘Text a Fraud’ service was put in place at the Fraud Investigation Unit to allow members of the general public who wished to remain anonymous to text their local authority when they suspected benefit fraud was being committed.

Andrew Hardy, Fraud Investigation Manager at the Benefit Fraud Investigations Service, explains the success of the ‘Text a Fraud’ campaign: “We already had several lines of communication in place, such as a benefit hotline and an email system but the SMS service has made a huge impact. In the first eight months, we had over 500 referrals, with 10% of those coming from text.  We made 32 formal cautions, 93 administrative penalties and prosecuted 27 individuals for benefit fraud.  We are continually looking for new ways to encourage people to report suspected fraud in confidence and this new text system from Dialogue is an alternative form which seems to be working well.”

Dialogue’s Community Text offering is designed for any company or organization wanting to employ mobile messaging as a direct avenue to its customers. The online portal makes setting up mobile messaging campaigns quick and easy, ensuring their effectiveness. The online service collates a high capacity of mobile data, giving its users the opportunity to identify and respond to its customers.

After the success of ‘Text a Fraud’, East Riding of Yorkshire continued to grow its SMS services.  This saw the introduction of bin reminders, where an SMS is sent to residents to ensure they put out their bins on the correct day, council tax and housing benefit services, which allow the community to send enquiries via text message, and rent reminders, informing residents when their rent is in arrears.

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