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  • Revenues & Benefits customer care

Revenues & Benefits customer care

What you can expect from us

We will treat you as an individual by offering a quality service that meets your needs. We will deliver our services fairly and to the same high standards to all of our customers, regardless of race, sex, disability, religion, age or sexual preference.

When you come to see us

  • We aim to attend to you within 10 minutes of your arrival, but if we don’t, we will let you know when you can be seen and explain the reason for the delay.
  • If you prefer not to wait, we will offer you an appointment at a time to suit you (where possible).
  • If you have an appointment with us we aim to see you at the appointed time, if we are delayed, we will explain why, tell you how long you may have to wait and give you the option of making an appointment for another day and time.
  • We will provide a private area for confidential inquiries should you wish.
  • We will ensure that our reception areas are clearly signposted, accessible, clean and welcoming at all times.
  • We will provide loop hearing systems, and access to lip speakers and signers on request.
  • We will provide interpreters, on request, for customers for whom English is their second language, and/or a telephone interpreting service.
  • We will have a free internal phone and access to a Minicom or other appropriate means of communication in the main reception area.

When you contact us

  • We aim to answer at least 80% of calls within 20 seconds.
  • We will take a message and get back to you within one working day if we cannot resolve your enquiry straight away or the person you want is not available.
  • If we pass your enquiry on to another department, we will pass on your details and the nature of your query so that you do not have to repeat it to another person.
  • We will only transfer your call to a phone answered by voice mail with your prior agreement.
  • We will respond to your enquiry within 28 days. If we need longer to give you a full reply, we will send you an acknowledgement and let you know why and how much time we will take.
  • We will write to you in a way that is easy to understand and use languages other than English when appropriate. We will arrange for a reply in Braille, large print or audio when requested.

If we visit you

  • All of our staff carry identification from the Council.
  • The Visiting officer will tell you who you can telephone if you want to confirm their identity.
  • If we have made an appointment to visit you, we will visit you within fifteen minutes of the time arranged.

At exceptionally busy periods it may not be possible to meet the above targets. When this occurs please be assured we will respond to your enquiry as soon as we can and your patience in these circumstances is appreciated.