A SUFFOLK firm serving the insurance sector is celebrating after gaining coveted status for its care and training of staff.

Call Connection, which employs around 300 staff at its town centre offices in Ipswich, has scooped the Investors In People (IiP) Silver award following an independent audit.

The firm, which provides telephone and online services to more than 100 insurance companies, is one of only a handful of Suffolk companies to have been awarded Silver status under the national IiP programme.

Call Connection, which also runs the Tiger.co.uk insurance comparison website, gained its initial IiP accreditation in 2007 and, three years on, has now become one of only 18 companies in the East of England to achieve Silver status.

The award comes after an intensive independent audit of Call Connection’s operations.

The company was successfully assessed on 158 different criteria covering staff training and well-being, company structure, staff recognition and empowerment and business planning and evaluation.

Graeme Kalbraier, founder and managing director of Call Connecton, said: “I am absolutely delighted that Investors In People has recognised the efforts that everyone at Call Connection has made to make this a great company for both our staff and our customers.

“Investors In People has accredited about 25,000 companies nationally and we are proud to be recognised as being in the top 1% of these.

“This award reflects our efforts to continually improve our business performance through our commitment to nurturing, recognising and rewarding our most important asset – our staff,” added Mr Kalbraier.