Introduction
As a public authority, we want to ensure our customers are satisfied with our services. People may wish to:
- tell us when they are satisfied with the services they have received
- make suggestions on how we could improve
- tell us when things have gone wrong
Dealing effectively with feedback is essential to providing good services.
This policy sets out how we will:
- deal with complaints
- ensure we consider concerns raised and make adjustments where required
Our guiding principles
We take all complaints seriously, deal with them appropriately and act on them where necessary.
We will:
- put the customer at the heart of the process, show understanding and respond appropriately to the circumstances
- resolve complaints as early as possible
- keep the customer informed about the progress of the complaints
- apologise if we have made a mistake or when something has gone wrong. We will put it right as soon as possible
- make sure our response addresses all elements of the complaint
- provide explanations for any decisions made or actions taken
- positively use complaints information to prevent similar occurrences in the future
We encourage all our staff to resolve customers' issues without needing to use the formal complaints process. In many cases we can resolve concerns quickly by putting the problem right straight away.