We know contact with the Council is unavoidable, but it should be easy, helpful, and friendly for residents. Our Customer Access Strategy outlines our commitment to you to achieve the best possible customer service. We aim to resolve your query with us at the first point of contact to avoid frustration and delays and to signpost you to the services you need.
We will make sure by improving our systems and approach that anyone contacting the Council feels that they have had a positive experience. This means that they will feel reassured that their circumstances have been understood and taken into account, confident that action will be taken, and content that they have been treated with good customer care. In the Strategy we committed to work with customers to develop service standards that reflect this and against which we can be held to account.
After responding to expressions of interest, we created a user group combined of residents and staff to explore what matters to them, what good service looks like and adopted a co-design approach to developing service standards together, which we have shared below.
Proposed Service Standards
As a resident, I want to feel:
seen, heard and listened to
that you care
confident that you have understood and made a record/noted what I contacted you about
that my enquiry or concern will be resolved, or I will get a clear explanation as to why it cannot be
that I know how to escalate if needed and can do this easily
that I’m included in making decisions about me
that my Council is there to help me, or will assist me in finding help
To achieve this, the Council needs to
ensure all staff are aware of and working to a set of behaviours and values
focus more on resolving residents' issues rather than ticking boxes
implement systems that manage resident interactions with the Council and share a view of residents
demonstrate that decisions are made with residents and explain how
ensure it is reaching all residents especially those who may not know how to contact the Council when they need or for the first time
earn residents' confidence and trust by improving services and working better together
use data and resident feedback to regularly review and improve, as part of our efforts in becoming the best Council
share results and feedback with staff and residents
ensure processes and systems are resident-focused, regularly reviewed and fixed when broken
and services and staff need to:
value and encourage resident participation
have empathy and show they care
be human, honest, transparent and accountable
update residents with progress every step of the way
be enabled to challenge processes or policies for the benefit of residents
avoid automated responses and "one size fits all" approaches
ensure residents do not have to make repeat contact to achieve a resolution
ensure residents feel listened to, heard and confident that action will be taken
take responsibility and don't pass the buck
be clear on who is taking responsibility and what the next steps are
Why your views matter
The Council is keen to hear your feedback on the proposed Service Standards. Feedback from this consultation will be analysed and used to inform the development of final Service Standards.
If you need help to complete this survey, or require it in an alternative format (e.g. paper copy or in an alternative language) please contact the Customer Access Team by email at casusergroup@rbkc.gov.uk
Share
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook