Our customer service standards
We are committed to delivering a high standard of customer service whenever you contact us. We aim to provide services that you can access in a way that is convenient to you.
Contacting us online
We will...
- Make our website available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Design our website to work on all screen sizes as we know many customers visit our website on a mobile device
- Continue to improve our online payment system as we know lots of customer prefer to do things online
- Make it possible to do more on our website easily and quickly
- Provide help if you don't feel confident using modern technology - our staff can assist you with using our website and our online services
- Aim to reply to emails as soon as possible
- Let you know if a reply is going to take longer than 10 working days
- Aim to reply to social media posts (if necessary or appropriate) within 24 hours (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)
Contacting us by phone
We will...
- Help you speak to the right person as quickly as possible
- Aim to answer your enquiry by the first person you contact
- Answer your call within 5 minutes, where possible
- Let you know if there is a delay
- Arrange to call you back if we cannot answer your query there and then.
- Give our name and department, and the reason for calling when we call back.
- Please note: When we call you from council offices the caller identification (phone number) will show as 'withheld'.
Contacting us in person
We will...
- Greet you at reception as soon as possible
- Make sure staff are easily identifiable as council employees
- Provide help to access our website and online services
- Provide access to computers and the internet
- See you on time if you have an appointment
- Display opening times and ways to contact us
- Provide facilities for disabled customers
Contacting us by letter
We will...
- Respond to straight forward queries within 28 working days
- Acknowledge complex queries within 28 working days and let you know when you can expect a reply
Complaints
We will...
- Acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days
- Send a full reply within 20 working days - or we will let you know if a full reply is not possible within this time.
- Ensure our complaints policy is adhered to at all times