All our staff are expected to follow the Council's
Customer Charter, along with corporate Customer Care
Procedures and Standards. We also have an
A-Z Guide to Your Council's Services and
Standards, which includes detail about the level of service
you can expect from individual teams.
Customer Charter
We are committed to providing the highest possible quality of
customer care to the residents, businesses, organisations and
visitors who we serve, regardless of the type of request, the
timing of the request, or the person making it. This is
irrespective of whether the request relates to a service provided
by the Council.
The following Charter details what customers can expect from us
and, in return, what we expect from our customers.
We will:
- Welcome your comments, suggestions, compliments or
complaints
- Act promptly to help you or, if we cannot, we will put you in
touch with the person who can help you as quickly as
possible. As a minimum, we will acknowledge correspondence
within three working days and, where possible, provide a full
response within 10 working days. We also aim to answer your
call within six rings
- Listen carefully to what you have to say
- Be courteous and helpful
- Treat you fairly and with respect
- Give you clear and accurate information
- Apologise if we have got something wrong and try to put things
right straightaway
- Where appropriate, provide interpreters or translators for
people with communications difficulties, or for those who are more
comfortable using a language other than English. This
includes British Sign Language interpreters as well as
face-to-face, written or telephone translation. We also have
fixed and portable hearing systems and a minicom (text phone)
system
- Provide easy access to our buildings, facilities and
events. We will always arrange for assistance to access any
of our buildings if necessary
- Treat your personal data with care and respect, in accordance
with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998.
We ask that:
- Our staff be treated with courtesy and respect at all
times. We will support staff who experience any form of
discrimination, abuse or threat
- Customers listen carefully to the information or advice staff
give them
- Customers explain their queries to us in a clear and concise
way to help us provide a clear and accurate
answer.