Former England captain and manager Kevin Keegan confirmed as special guest at CSA Awards 2024

The Credit Services Association (CSA) has launched the 2024 CSA Awards, with former England captain and manager Kevin Keegan confirmed as special guest speaker.

Kevin Keegan is one of the most recognisable faces in British football, with an illustrious playing career including time at Liverpool, Hamburg, Southampton and Newcastle as well as the national side, captaining England for six years until his international retirement after the 1982 World Cup.

The CSA Awards, hosted as part of the trade body’s UK Credit and Collections Conference (UKCCC), will be held at the Hilton at St George’s Park, the home to all 23 English national football teams on the evening of Thursday 12 September 2024.

The CSA Awards are now open for nominations, with tickets also on sale. 

The CSA Awards celebrate the outstanding work and commitment of staff and teams working within the sector. A new award has been introduced for 2024, with the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) & Diversity in the Workplace Award recognising the growing importance of these issues as part of everyday business and the benefit it can bring to companies and consumers.

There will be five main award categories open for nominations to recognise exceptional achievement over the last 12 months: 

• The CSA Merit Award is split into two categories, one for those working with vulnerable customers and one for customer engagement. Each will be awarded to individuals in a frontline customer-facing role who have made an outstanding contribution and high-level of commitment to their company.
• The CSA Team Award is for departments or teams which have excelled in providing high levels of service, quality and dedication, as well as demonstrating outstanding teamwork and contributing to the wider success of their company and to the benefit of the consumer.
• The CSA Innovation Award recognises companies, teams or individuals who have demonstrated high levels of creativity, adaptability and inventiveness in the face of an ever-changing environment, delivering genuine innovation for their company with positive outcomes in areas such as improved processes, customer service, efficiency, cost-saving and use of technology.
• The Kim MacMillan Award is awarded to an outstanding apprentice, team leader, or a team of learning and development practitioners, who have given an outstanding contribution to Learning and Development in their company.
• The ESG & Diversity in the Workplace Award will be awarded to a company who has demonstrated a commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) and diversity within the workplace, with a focus on how it has positively affected areas including organisational health, environmental impact, staff well-being and contributed towards enhancing equality, diversity and inclusion.

The UKCCC Gala Dinner & CSA Awards are a popular element of the UKCCC, and features excellent networking opportunities, with a Champagne drinks reception and a three-course meal followed by after-dinner entertainment from Keving Keegan and the awards ceremony.

Nominations and entries can be submitted via the UKCCC website up until the deadline on Friday 28 June 2024.

CSA Chief Executive Chris Leslie said: “The CSA Awards continue to offer both members and non-members a platform to celebrate and recognise the commitment and dedication of their staff, be it at a personal level or that of a team or department – and demonstrates the high standards that the industry operates at.

“We are delighted to welcome Kevin to the event, and we know that those at the event will be treated to some fascinating stories from his long and celebrated career. The fact that we’re holding our annual event at St George’s Park this year in what is also an international tournament year, makes the choice of guest even more special”.

For more information about the CSA Awards or the UKCCC (in association with Data on Demand) please click here.