THE trend for moving British call centre jobs overseas appears to be waning - with many companies now choosing centres back home.

Customer complaints and problems with equipment has persuaded businesses such as Powergen they are better off using staff based in the UK, rather than India or the Far East.

And the good news is many are choosing Southend as their base.

Insurance firm Insure and Go, has recently taken on about 300 extra staff at its base in Warrior Square, after relocating from Braintree last year.

Lloyds TSB has a call centre in Southchurch Road, Southend, while the Royal Bank of Scotland has its giant credit card processing headquarters in Thanet Grange, Southend.

And just last week, Converso, which operates call centre operations on behalf of other companies, announced its office in Thamesgate House, in Victoria Avenue, Southend would be taking on 400 new staff over the next three years.

The popularity of the town as a call centre base dates back to the early days of bank credit cards.

The success of the first, Barclaycard, led high street rivals, NatWest, Lloyds and Midland, to join forces to run Access's card centre in the town.

At that time, Southend was chosen because it had plenty of office space to spare in Priory Crescent.

The Access building had just been vacated by long-established electrical firm Ekco, whose operations was being run down.

Access not only filled the gap left by the closure of Ekco, it also ensured other companies followed suit.

Dino Forte, managing director of Converso, explained: "In the Seventies, when the first centres were opened in Southend, British Telecom put in a large number of trunk lines and naturally, this brought in further firms.

"They had immediate availability of telephone lines, the most important thing for any call centre."

He added: "Until ten years ago, there is no doubt that Southend was the call centre capital of Britain, though in recent years there has been some opposition.

"This has particularly come from Bristol and the North-East, and the trend - which I think is slowing down - of taking call centre work abroad."

Mr Forte believes there is no reason Southend should not continue to be a successful base for call centre companies, or large firms.

He said: "The Royal Bank of Scotland has shown its commitment with the new call centre by Tesco, which shows the bank appreciates what Southend has to offer.

"The town is in the best position to attract a pool of skilled labour for the jobs we can provide.

"In some cases, there are people who do not want to commute to London and are looking for a job locally."

Call centres, he said, also provided many part-time jobs, which were ideal for working mothers who needed the flexibile hours.

"Because call centres have been established in the area for a long time, there is a pool of labour available which is already skilled," Mr Forte said."It is another reason for new firms to move to the town or surrounding area."

And he is correct to suggest nearby towns are also benefiting from the "Southend effect".

Powergen recently opened a large call centre at the former Eastern Electricity Board offices in London Road, Rayleigh, having decided to move away from relying on overseas call centres.