Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council published its first Customer Services Charter in March 2007.

The Charter highlights the service you can expect when you request a service from the Council.

Details of the Charter are listed below.

Customer Services Charter

Dear customer,

When you request a service from the Council such as applying for Housing Benefits or submitting a planning application we will try to provide you with the outcome you want. However, this is not always possible since a successful application for a service (such as Housing Benefits or a planning application) will depend on your circumstances and whether they meet relevant qualification criteria.

However as a customer of the Council you have a right to expect affordable and effective services provided to you by staff who are courteous, fair and efficient. It is our job to ensure that this is provided.

As well as providing you with access to our services through the traditional methods of reception points and telephone, we can increasingly provide you with the convenience, flexibility and choice of using the internet and e-mail. Using our internet site www.berwick-upon-tweed.gov.uk means that you can get information, apply for a service, make a booking, or make a payment 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is also a useful first point of contact for other local and central government agencies.

We are working hard to improve the quality of services that we provide to you. The information below sets out the quality of service you can expect to receive and the standards we aspire to regardless of how you access our services. If you feel we have failed to achieve these standards please let us know by contacting the Head of the appropriate service or by filling in a complaints form which can be found in our Reception areas or on our website www.berwick-upon-tweed.gov.uk

You can expect us to:

• Tell you the name of the person you are speaking to and the Council service they represent
• Provide you with pleasant surroundings when you visit us
• Listen carefully to your concerns and provide services that are relevant to them
• Deal with your enquiry promptly, efficiently, fairly, and in confidence
• Take ownership of your query even where the service you ultimately receive may be provided by another organisation such as the County Council or the Water Authorities
• Tell you how long it will take us to deal with your enquiry if it is complicated and we need time to investigate it, and provide you with feedback about it in the mean time
• Resolve your query wherever possible without referring you on to another member of staff
• Ensure that the details of your query are passed to the member of staff to whom your query is referred (on the occasions when this is unavoidable) to avoid the need for you to provide us with your details a second time
• Respond within one working day on those occasions where you have left a message for a member of our staff
• Recognise if you require special or sensitive treatment according to your circumstances and do our best to meet your particular needs
• Ensure that our staff have the skills, training and information they need to provide you with high-quality services
• Make it straightforward for you to complain if you are not satisfied with the level of service you receive from us and to respond promptly to your complaint
• Provide you with information that is jargon-free and in Plain English
• Treat your personal information in absolute confidence and in accordance with the Data Protection Act
• Ask for your opinion from time to time about your satisfaction with our services and how you think they can be improved (through questionnaires and surveys)
• Apologise to you if we get it wrong and do our best to correct the mistake

We expect you to:

• Treat our staff with respect and courtesy
• Recognise that our staff cannot always provide you with the outcome you want when you apply for a service
• Acknowledge that your query may have to be dealt with by a member of staff other than the person you asked to speak to
• Recognise that we cannot guarantee that the member of staff you wish to see will be available if you visit a Council reception without having made a prior appointment
• Fill in application forms correctly and provide supporting information where required (such as proof of identity and address)

Standards of service we expect to provide you with

We have set the following standards for our staff in dealing with your enquiry or a request for a service. We aim to:

• Answer telephone calls within seven rings
• Increase the percentage of your queries resolved at the first point of contact to 70% by 2008
• Reply to letters / faxes within three working days (sometimes this will be an informational response promising a fuller reply)
• Reply to e-mail and internet enquiries within three working days (sometimes this will be an informational response promising a fuller reply)
• Provide an appointment date within 10 working days from when you request one
  

Contact information

Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council
Council Offices
Wallace Green
Berwick-upon-Tweed
TD15 1ED
Telephone: 01289 330044
E-mail: enquiries@berwick-upon-tweed.gov.uk

If you need information in another format or in a language other than English please contact the Council by telephoning 01289 330044.

Select this link to view the Customer Services Charter Leaflet: