Harrow Borough Council has been recognised with a national accreditation for its work looking after staff.

The authority was given the Investors in People gold standard award for its resources department, which looks after the council call centre, council tax payments, human resources, finance and work with local businesses.

During the past few months some of the 600 members of staff at the centre were interviewed by inspectors on how the council looked after its employees.

Investors in People is one of the leading accreditations for business improvement in the country .

Paul Devoy of Investors in People said: “We’d like to congratulate Harrow Council on its gold standard.

“Such a high level of accreditation is the sign of great people management practice, and demonstrates a commitment to staff development and shows an organisation committed to being the very best it can be. Harrow Council should be extremely proud of its achievement.”

Cabinet member for corporate resources Cllr Graham Henson said: “We are committed to the welfare of our staff who do a tremendous job despite the pressures on finance that we are all aware of.

“The staff in our resources team do vital work, whether that’s ensuring benefit support is handled effectively to dealing with hundreds of calls a day responding to residents at Access Harrow.

“It’s great to know the team believes the council is looking after them.”