Aspects of the British government’s COVID-19 contact-tracing operation has been run by customer service centre staff at Hays Travel, the holidays agency that took over Thomas Cook last year, openDemocracy and the Observer can reveal.
The Sunderland-based company, owned and run by the married couple John and Irene Hays, pitched for work on the coronavirus response in March, a spokeswoman confirmed, as the virus was spreading and the travel industry was plunged into crisis. The spokeswoman said that Hays Travel does not have a contract directly with the government, but has been subcontracted by two providers, whom she said the company could not name due to client confidentiality.
Serco, the logistics company believed to have the largest private contract with the government for Covid-19 contact tracing, confirmed that it has subcontracted Hays Travel to do some of the work, and more companies from the travel sector and other industries. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care also confirmed that: “Hays Travel has been subcontracted by Serco to provide support for NHS Test and Trace. Hays Travel was also subcontracted by Teleperformance [a French call centre “customer experience” corporation] to provide limited support for FCO travel advice at the height of the pandemic and also some support for the 119 [testing contact centre] service.”
