Customer charter

Our customer charter explains the behaviours that you can expect from us when you contact us; and it also explains what we ask of you in return.

How we will treat you and how to treat us

We do our best every day to serve our customers. You can expect that we will:

• listen to you
• respond to you professionally and with respect
• help to resolve your query and achieve the best outcomes that we can for you
• treat you fairly
• value diversity and never knowingly discriminate against you
• recognise different communication needs and make reasonable adjustments to support you to communicate with us
• be honest with you and take responsibility for our actions

What we ask in return

Treat us with respect. We understand that in times of trouble or distress, people may act out of character. You can ask us to contact you at another time if you are finding a conversation difficult

Please be patient. Sometimes it can take time for us to give you the information or support you need. We may need to talk to colleagues in other areas of the council before we can answer some queries.f we need to get back in touch with you, we will agree how and when to do this with you.

Please be aware that we do not tolerate behaviour, language, or communication that is threatening, violent, or abusive. This includes discrimination, harassment, or hate crimes. If you behave in this way, we can end correspondence, meetings, visits, or conversations. However, we will let you know first that we may do this. We may also:

• record information about incidents and share this with other parts of the council
• limit how you can communicate with us
• report abuse to the police

We have a duty to protect the welfare and safety of our staff. We should be able to work without fear of abuse, harassment, discrimination, or violence.