Our customer promise

As part of our customer promise we have pledged to treat customers with respect, keep customers informed and to make it easy to deal with us at all times.

When responding to letters, emails and text, we will:

• Respond to customer enquiries in full within five working days, or if we can't we will let customers know when we can respond.
• Tell customers what will happen next and when.
• Keep customers updated of progress.

When meeting face-to-face, we will:

• Be on time, or let customers know if we will be delayed.
• Wear name badges or carry official staff photo passes.
• Arrange to discuss issues in private if required.
• Where appropriate, make other arrangements to see customers if they cannot visit us.

In terms of our buildings, we will:

• Provide a welcoming, safe and accessible environment.
• Aim to greet customers within three minutes of arriving.
• Provide clear signs in reception areas.
• Provide self-service facilities where possible.

We have also created a set of standards related to how we communicate and how we keep customers informed, as well as how we handle comments, compliments and complaints:

In all our communications we will:

• Put customers needs at the heart of what we do.
• Listen, be helpful, polite and treat you fairly and with respect.
• Be open, upfront and explain our decisions.
• Use plain language not jargon.
• Provide information in other languages or large print if needed.
• Produce information about the council and our services that is accurate, useful and up to date on our website.
• Monitor and let you know whether we are meeting our customer standards on a regular basis.
• Review our customer standards every year.
• Use customer feedback to help us make decisions and improve our processes and services.

When responding to complaints, comments and compliments, we will:

• Make it easy to report a complaint, comment or compliment.
• Acknowledge all complaints within three working days.
• Provide a full response within 20 working days, or let customers know when we will respond in full.
• Treat complaints confidentially, while making sure we are fair to everyone concerned.
• Let you know how to take your complaint further if you are not satisfied with our response.
• Say sorry when we are at fault and do our very best to put things right.
• Record complaints, comments and compliments and use them to review and improve our services.

In return, we ask our customers to treat us with respect and:

• Allow us to work in a safe environment free from aggressive, abusive or threatening language and behaviour.
• Check our website for the information they need, first before ringing or visiting us.
• Give us all the information we need to help them.
• Be patient when they contact us at busy times.

In return, we ask our customers to let us know:

• Let us know if they have any specific needs.
• Ask us to explain anything they are not sure of.
• Give us notice if you need to cancel or rearrange an appointment.
• Tell us straightaway if they are unhappy with the service they receive.
• Tell us if they are pleased with the service they receive.

Your feedback is vital:

If you feel we are not fulfilling our customer promise and would like to complain, please fill in our online form.

If you feel we are doing well and would like to let us know, please fill in our compliments form.