MaxContact has released their 2025/6 UK Contact Centre KPI Benchmarking Insights Report, revealing rising pressure on UK contact centre agents as workload increases and AI investment accelerates.
The research shows that 52.6% of contact centres report higher agent workload, up from 42% in 2024, marking a 10% increase year on year.
The impact on people is also evident, with average annual agent turnover rising to 31.2%, compared with 30.2% last year.
Based on a survey of 300 UK contact centre decision-makers, the report highlights an industry balancing heightened customer expectations with challenging economic conditions, while increasingly turning to technology to manage demand.
Commenting on the findings, Ben Booth, CEO of MaxContact, said:
“Customer facing teams are being asked to do more – and the data shows that pressure is rising year-on-year. When workload increases, it doesn’t just affect service levels.
It affects quality, morale, and the capacity to improve. The most sustainable response is to reclaim time – removing avoidable work and using AI to handle routine interactions and provide team’s with support, so they can focus on the conversations that truly need a human.”
He noted that sustained increases in workload can affect service quality, morale and the ability to improve, adding that many organisations are now focused on removing avoidable work and using AI to support agents with routine interactions.
The findings suggest AI is becoming a central part of contact centre strategy rather than a standalone experiment. Two-thirds of respondents (66%) say their organisation is already using or piloting AI, with a further 20% planning implementation in 2025/26.
Looking ahead, 60% of respondents expect AI and automation tools to be a main area of increased investment in 2026, while 55% identify AI and automation implementation as a top technology priority for the year ahead.
Among organisations already using or piloting AI, 48% report improvements in customer experience, while 30% say AI has driven a significant transformation and become central to service delivery. Almost all respondents (99%) believe AI will improve contact centre effectiveness over the next three years.
When asked what delivers the greatest competitive advantage, respondents cite advanced technology and automation (42%), speed and responsiveness (42%), and improved customer data and insights (38%).
The report also highlights challenges to wider AI adoption, with data security concerns identified by 45% of respondents as a key barrier.
The research suggests contact centres are increasingly directing AI investment towards reclaiming time and reducing operational pressure.
This includes moving high-volume, repetitive interactions to self-service and automation, using insight from conversations to identify coaching and performance opportunities, and supporting agents with better context so they can focus on more complex customer needs.
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About MaxContact
MaxContact is the AI-powered customer engagement software that helps you turn every customer conversation into a high-impact, revenue-driving moment. We empower your teams to connect smarter, perform better, and scale faster – without losing the human touch. Find out more about MaxContact
Author: Hannah Swankie
Reviewed by: Megan Jones
Published On: 22nd Jan 2026
Read more about - Latest News, MaxContact
