Making life little easier for people grieving family
ATECHNOLOGY company that aims to make administration for grieving relatives easier has signed a deal with one of the North East’s main utility companies.
Settld has agreed a partnership with Northumbrian Water Group which aims to streamline end-of-life account administration for people handling the affairs of a customer who has died.
The partnership – a first for the water industry – comes after water regulator Ofwat urged firms to do more to help bereaved and vulnerable customers.
Settld, which was set up by motherand-daughter Julie and Vicky Wilson, enables members of the public to notify service providers – including banks, insurers, energy firms and mobile providers – of a death, in a bid to reduce the stress of administration following a bereavement.
The company has been named as one of the country’s best technology startups after being selected as one of 10 winners of TechNation’s Rising Stars competition.
Vicky Wilson, co-founder and CEO of Settld, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Northumbrian Water and Essex & Suffolk Water, to help all those dealing with the death of a loved one.
“Using Settld, everyone benefits: bereaved families face significantly less time and stress when it comes to notifying all companies of a death – giving them time to focus on what really matters.
“And, on the other side, NWG’s customer service agents face an easier time in attending to the needs of their bereaved and vulnerable customers.”
Lisa Connell, customer service manager at Northumbrian Water Group, said: “We want to help make things as easy as possible for our customers who are sadly dealing with the death of a loved one.
“That’s why we are pleased to be the first water company to have partnered with Settld, to help improve the care and reduce the unnecessary admin faced by bereaved families.
“Customers can still contact us directly if they prefer, but Settld offers our customers another option of how they manage contact with companies following a bereavement.”
Settld will provide its automated bereavement administration service free of charge to Northumbrian Water customers who notify them directly.
Northumbrian Water supplies 2.7m customers across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham and parts of North Yorkshire, while the group’s Essex and Suffolk Water supplies 1.8m customers across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Greater London.
We want to help make things as easy as possible for our customers Lisa Connell