Customer contact standards

We are committed to providing high standards of service to the people who live, work and visit North West Leicestershire.

We put our customers at the heart of what we do, and we work according to our core values – trust, excellence, respect, growth and pride.

Our customer contact standards tell our customers what they should expect from us when interacting with our services and what we expect from them in return.

We will play our part by:

• Working together as one team across services and aim to provide a coordinated response to all enquiries.
• Resolving your enquiry the first time you contact us whenever possible, and helping you to track its progress.
• Offering a variety of ways to access our services, including a quicker and easier online experience, to use at a time that suits you
• Taking your information once - and we'll always do our best to remember it.
• Treat you with respect, listen carefully and take your views seriously.
• Treat your enquiries and personal data with professionalism and in confidence.
• Aiming to find a satisfactory solution and have a 'can-do' attitude within available resources.
• Do what we say we will do.

Accessibility

We use plain language in all communications. On request, we will provide information in other languages, accessible
formats and can arrange for an interpreter.

Contacting us online

The quickest and easiest way, to request, report, apply or pay for services

• Your enquiry will go directly to the correct team
• Your account retains all your details, and ongoing and past enquiries
• You can contact us at any time convenient for you.

Phones

We will:

• Answer your call as soon as possible
• Tell you who you are speaking to and the name of the service
• Transfer your call (if needed) to the right department, first time
• Pass on your details or give you the correct number to phone, if we can't transfer your call
• Record calls to help improve our future service.

Writing to us

We will:

• Acknowledge receipt of all customer emails within one working day
• Aim to provide a response to your email and letter enquiries within five working days and if not, we will update you on when you can expect a reply
• Provide you with details of the person dealing with your enquiry.

Visiting us

We will:

• Create an accessible environment that is welcoming, safe and friendly
• Provide clear signs so you know where to go
• Provide self-service facilities and help you to use them.

Appointments with us

We will:

• Be on time and keep to our appointments – if we are running late we will do our best to make sure you are kept up to date
• Wear name badges and show official identification on appropriate visits
• Arrange a time and place for you to talk to us in private if needed.

Complaints, compliments and comments

We will:

• Provide you with information about how to report a complaint, comment or compliment
• Record all complaints, comments and compliments and use them to help review, shape and improve our services
• Acknowledge all complaints within two working days
• Respond to all complaints within 10 working days
• Treat complaints confidentially and fairly
• Tell you how you can take your complaint further if you are not satisfied with our response
• Apologise when we are at fault and do our very best to put things right.

To help us, we would like you to play your part by:

• Accessing our services online as much as possible
• Recognising that we don't have enough resources to meet every need
• Providing us with the correct information we need to help you
• Asking us to explain anything you are not sure of
• Keeping any appointments that you have with us, and notifying us if you are unable to attend
• Tell us when your circumstances change
• Treat us politely and with respect
• Not use aggressive behaviour or inappropriate language, as this will not be tolerated