General Standards
The following standards are a guide to what you should expect from us. They fully reflect our organisational values:
- We will be courteous, helpful and attentive.
- We will avoid jargon and explain technical terms.
- We will respect people's differences, and treat everyone fairly and to the same high standard.
- We will not make promises that we cannot keep.
- We will always respond to your letters, email or calls but we reserve the right that our response will be from the person we decide to be the most appropriate.
If you, as the customer, need special help, for example because you have a disability or any other special needs, we will:
- Arrange a home visit by an appropriate officer if you are housebound or disabled and cannot get into one of our centres;
- Arrange for leaflets, letters or other information to be available in large print or on audio tape;
- Make arrangements for any document to be translated.
If we visit you in your home or place of work we will:
- Always identify ourselves as being from the Council
- Arrive on time or let you know if we are unavoidably delayed
- Explain why we are visiting you
- Help you, if appropriate, in filling in any forms
- Finish the matter during the visit, if possible, and before leaving, confirm the result of the visit and agree any next steps
- Always treat your home or other premises with respect
As a valued customer we ask you to:
Please treat our workforce with courtesy and respect, refraining from unacceptable standards of behaviour and inappropriate language. We will refuse to provide a response or deal with a service request if an individual customer acts in an aggressive manner. Further sanctions are available when customers become violent or abusive.
Please respect and adhere to our rules and regulations that exist for the benefit and safety of all customers. Respect our buildings, property and equipment.
Feedback and complaints
We recognise that things can go wrong and that we can only put them right if customers tell us. We treat every comment, complaint or compliment as an opportunity to improve our service.
Our treatment of a complaint requires sensitivity and consistency. We therefore need to be clear what we mean by a complaint and have clear standards for response.
Worcester's definition is: "A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the Council or our workforce affecting an individual, group or organisation."
Worcester's standards are: "We will acknowledge a complaint within two working days indicating the time scale for the full response.
"We will give a full response within 15 working days or, if the investigation takes longer, we will keep the complainant informed of the time scale."
For further information please visit our customer feedback section of our website.
