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Service Standards

Providing excellent customer service is very important to us. We have published Service Standards so you know what to expect from us, and to ensure we deliver our services fairly and consistently.

We continuously monitor these standards to make sure we meet your expectations, and we will ask you to let us know if we are not achieving them. We will let you know in our newsletter and website how we are performing against these standards.
Our service standards will be reviewed at least every 2 years to be sure they continue to meet your expectations, and we will seek your views on how we can improve the standard and range of services we provide, through our resident involvement programme, and customer surveys.

What to expect from our staff

You should expect to receive:

• Professional services which treat everyone fairly and with respect.
• Information which is easy to understand in plain language.
• Information about our services and how we are meeting our standards.
• Opportunities to comment compliment or complain about our services, which we will respond to and learn from.
• Opportunities to be involved in the review of our services and standards.
• An interpreter or British sign language facilitator if you request this.

All staff will identify themselves to you by:

• Introducing themselves on the telephone.
•Wearing their name badge.
• Showing you their identity card.

All staff will be:

• Polite and well presented.
• Fair and consistent with their standard of service and advice.
• Respectful of confidentiality.
• Responsive to any special needs you may have.

 

What to expect when you visit our offices

Our offices areas will:

• Be accessible and welcoming.
• Display our opening times and out of hour’s emergency numbers.
• Display useful information.
• Provide private interview rooms if you request this.

What to expect when you contact us

When you contact us by telephone our staff will:

• Identify themselves to you.
• Aim to answer 80%of calls within 30 seconds.
• Aim to effectively deal with 85% of customer's calls without the need to transfer these to someone else, unless you request them to.
• If the person you want to speak to is not available we aim to tell you when they are expected to return, and offer to take a message or transfer you to their voice mail.

When you come to our office our staff will:

•Welcome you and take details of your enquiry within 5 minutes of you arriving.
• Advise you of how they intend to deal with your enquiry and how long you should have to wait.
• If the appropriate staff member is not available, arrange an appointment for you to speak with them either by telephone, at our office, or at home, if you request this.
• Arrange a private interview room if you request this.

When we visit your home our staff will:

• Identify themselves to you.
• Respect your home.
• Arrive at the agreed time or contact you beforehand if this is not possible.
• If you are not in our staff will leave a card with details of their visit and how to
contact them to re-arrange the appointment.
• If we call at your home without an appointment we will tell you why we have called. If our visit is inconvenient we will arrange a convenient time to return.

When you contact us in writing we will:

• Reply to your letter within 10 working days.
• Acknowledge receipt of e-mails within 3 working days and reply within 10 working days.
• If we cannot give you a full response in these timescales we will explain why, and when you can expect our full response.

What to expect from our printed information:

• All our printed information will include appropriate contact details, and details of how to request the information in different formats, languages other than English, and in Braille, and audio.
• Our services standards and other useful information will be available on display in our offices, on our website Bernicia.com and on request from our offices or from a member of staff.
•We will arrange for an interpreter to explain information to you if you request this.
• How we will monitor our services and tell you about our performance.
We will use a number of methods to assess our performance and report it to you, including:
• Monitoring of telephone calls.
• Written and telephone surveys.
• Through our comments, complaints and compliments policy.
• Via our newsletter.
• Via our website.
• Via our resident involvement programme and customer surveys.

We will endeavour to receive a balance of feedback which represents the profile of our customers, to ensure our services are delivered fairly, consistently and are responsive to the needs of individuals.

What we will expect from you:

• To treat staff with dignity in a polite and courteous way
• To keep to agreed appointments or contact us if you are unable to attend
• To keep us informed of any change in circumstances
• To reply to us if we contact you

 

What to expect if things go wrong:

• We will do our best to deliver our Service Standards.  If however, we have not met these please let us know and we will work to put things right immediately. If you are still not satisfied, please ask for our complaint leaflet which explains what to do next.
• If a complaint cannot be resolved immediately, our staff will advise you how to make a complaint .You can make a complaint in person or by telephone to one of our staff, in writing, by e-mail or by filling in a complaints form through the website.