Why we’ve said sorry and what we’ve done as a result
We issued more apologies this year. Below is an overview of the key reasons we said sorry and how we’re working to improve our services as a result..
| Why we said sorry | What action we’ve taken |
| Waste bins/bags not being returned to the correct location. | Team leaders have spoken to the crew involved requesting that this does not occur again. |
| More information should have been given by our customer services team. | Manager addressed issues with team members to encourage an improvement in the information we provide. Customer services team now has regular training mornings so issues can be addressed. |
| Time taken to respond to a planning enforcement request. | Reviewed ways of working within the team. |
| Actions and attitude of staff working within our joint waste teams. |
We spoke to those involved about the behaviours we encourage from team members. |
| Delay in responding to a report of an overhanging tree. | Staff were reminded of the importance of responding to reports in a timely manner, even if the query relates to something not owned or managed by the council. |
| Lack of communication about planning applications. | Case officers were reminded to provide timely updates to customers. |
| Postal votes not received on time. | We liaised with our third-party provider to discuss the cause and to ensure this does not occur again. |
|
Poor customer service from housing officers. |
Concerns were discussed with team members so that this can be avoided in the future. |
| More information should be available on the planning section of our website. | Additional information was added to our website. |
| Slow processing of a refund. | Customer services team was reminded to fully explain the refund process to the customer so that time scales are understood. |
| Not returning bins and blue bags to the correct place. | Team were reminded of the importance of doing this correctly. |
| Poor customer service contact from environmental health. | Manager spoke to the team member about the lack of communication provided to the resident. |
| Revenues call ended too soon. | Manager spoke to team member about why this should not have happened. |
| Name not updated for election purposes. | Following restructuring of the elections team we have new processes in place to assist with all related requests. |
| Long waits to connect with a customer service advisor | Apologised to the customer that on that day there was a high volume of calls for several reasons. Advised that if this occurs in the future to use the option of leaving their number and we will call back without them losing their place in the queue. |