Direct Group Unwrapped – 2022 Year Review
28th December 2022
Direct Group Unwrapped – As the festive season comes to a close and we get ready to welcome another year, we would like to reflect on the past 12 months.
DCBL, and the wider Direct Group, have had many achievements to embrace throughout the year including new client wins, new staff appointments, winning industry awards and much more.
Our drive to continually improve our services by focusing on communication, providing increased options and the in-depth training of our staff, is why our clients continue to trust us.
So, what were some of the biggest highlights of the year? Let’s take a look!
Direct Group Unwrapped – New DCBL Website
One of the most exciting highlights of this year was the launch of the brand-new DCBL website on the 1st of April.
The website was updated to reflect our brand values, improve user experience and create a broader range of communication channels for our clients and users as we embark on the next chapter of the Direct path.
Enhancing our communication channels has allowed us to ensure better engagement and customer service, upholding our brand reputation.
This will allow us to manage the payments, requests and above all the user experience for both clients and their customers.
Direct Group Unwrapped – Recruitment
2022 saw a large drive in recruitment throughout various departments, with over 40 staff being recruited across the group.
Our increase in recruitment has allowed us to further develop the growth of the business and maintain our spot as an industry leader.
DCB Legal was recently featured in various press releases following the recruitment of four new senior solicitors in November. Neil Smith, Rebecca Dale, David Croot and Katy Long joined us, bringing a combined 71 years of experience.
As a way to support young people in fulfilling their aspirations, the group has also welcomed a number of apprentices in 2022.
We are currently looking to expand our cohort of IT and business administration apprentices to support school leavers in the local community.
Events and Exhibitions
We attended a number of events across the country this year, with the most notable being Parkex in June which we exhibited at.
Not only did we exhibit at the event, but we also sponsored the Women in Parking panel discussion which was chaired by our very own Jamie Ashford.
We look forward to attending more events in 2023.
Some of the highlight events we attended included the Halton Business Awards, British Parking Awards, BPA Members Dinner, BPA President’s Reception and Women in Parking seasonal events.
Throughout the year we have celebrated the hard work of our staff at Direct House by hosting activities, such as:
- Burger/Hot Dog Vans
- Ice Cream Vans during the heatwaves
- Easter Eggs for staff at Easter
- A Competition to see Bryan Adams at the DCBL Stadium
- World Cup Football shown in the office
- Our very own Direct Fest where we had a photo booth and a hog roast on-site
- Hog roast at Christmas
We believe in order to create a good atmosphere within the office and for our staff that we regularly celebrate their hard work.
The security division of Direct Group, Direct Security Solutions, provided security to a large number of events across the country. Some of the highlights included Marine Football Club home games, race days at both Chester Racecourse and Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse, various events at Norton Priory and the Halton Fireworks Display event in November.
Awards and Accreditations
One of the biggest awards achievements of 2022 was for DCBL winning the “Best Use of Technology – Partnerships” award at the Credit Awards in June.
We were shortlisted alongside the likes of 247 Money, HSBC, Experian, and OVO Energy and successfully came out on top.
Winning this award demonstrates our relentless pursuit to innovate, improve customer experience and achieve the best outcomes for our clients.
You can read the full story about our successful win here.
Charitable Efforts
We make a huge effort every year to raise as much money for charities across the UK and 2022 was no different.
Some of our charitable contributions throughout the year
- Easter foodbank collection.
- Bake-off competition for MacMillan Cancer Research.
- Employee recognition – Rebecca Dale completed the Yorkshire Dales Mighty Hike for MacMillan Cancer.
- Christmas jumper day for Save The Children UK.
- Runcorn and District Foodbank collection in December.
- Chai Cancer Care fundraising.
We even sponsored Rupert Williams, UKPC Founder and Executive Chairman, in his incredible effort to raise £10,000 for Dreamflight by taking part in the Ironman Vitoria-Gasteiz triathlon.
The year’s biggest highlight was hosting a Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Ambassador and Keyworkers at the DCBL stadium in August.
This included a stadium tour, meeting the team captain, and enjoying lunch and refreshments in the executive suite whilst watching the match.
You can read more about this special day here.
We continued our sponsorship of the DCBL Stadium throughout 2022 and are pleased to announce that we will see this through for years to come.
It has been a pleasure to support the local stadium and the wider community and we look forward to attending more of the Widnes Vikings games in 2023.
Looking forward to 2023
It has certainly been an interesting and exciting year for DCBL and the Direct Group, and we hope 2023 is just as good!
We hope all of our colleagues, friends and family members have a fantastic festive season and an even better start to 2023.
Keep an eye on our social media profiles to see what we get up to in the new year.
