Customer Care
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Our customer services team is the first point of contact for the Council and we are committed to providing high quality, accessible, services to meet the needs and expectations of our customers. You can use our Self Service section to log problems, book services or check your council tax 24/7 You can also download our app and access our services on the move!
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Our Teams
General Enquiries
Our team are available at our Contact Centre reception from Monday to Friday 9am till 5pm and our phonlines are open 8am to 6pm weekdays, 10am to 2pm Saturdays
Council Tax and Benefits
Our Revenues and Benefits team are available for enquiries about Council Tax (01744 675255) and Housing Benefit (01744 676666) Monday to Friday 8.45am - 5.15pm (except Wednesday's when the lines open at 10am and on a Friday when the lines close at 5pm)
The team are also on our counters at Wesley House Monday to Friday from 9am till 4:30pm (except on Wednesday's when the counters open at the later time of 10am).
First Response Team - Social Care
If you need to report a concern or request a service you can call the team on 01744 676600 9am - 5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am - 4.30pm on a Friday. There is also an out of hours team for emergencies available on 0345 0500 148 . You can find more information on our Social Care pages
Our Customer Promise
We will:
- Be polite, courteous and honest.
- Treat each person as an individual.
- Work to identify and meet the different needs of customers to promote equality of access.
- Seek your feedback and act on it where we can.
- Respond positively to your comments or complaints.
- Respect your confidentiality.
- Provide clear information about our services in appropriate formats.
- Provide an interpreter if required.
- Resolve your enquiry at first contact where we can, or direct you to the right place if we can’t.
- Provide you with an explanation if we can’t meet your request or enquiry.
- Monitor our performance and tell you how we are doing.
- Train and support our staff to provide a first class service.
Our Standards
- All front line staff in Council reception and access points will be in uniform.
- All staff will wear a name badge.
- We will give our name and service area when answering your calls.
- Where the use of voicemail is permitted, we will respond to messages by the close of the following working day.
- We will acknowledge e-mail enquiries to the Contact Centre within one working day.
- We will try and respond to written correspondence (including e-mails) within 10 working days, unless there is an alternative statutory timescale.
- We will write in Plain English and not use jargon.
What We Expect From Customers
We will not tolerate aggressive or abusive behaviour or language towards Council officers and will terminate phone calls or interviews where this is displayed.