Elmbridge Borough Council's Customer Service Standards

Elmbridge is committed to continually improve our services to provide you, the customer, the best possible service we can. If you contact us we aim to meet the following standards:

You can expect us to:

• Listen carefully and treat you fairly
• Provide accurate, clear information and use plain English
• Be open and honest about what we can deliver
• Deal with your query promptly
• Keep your information safe and respect its confidentiality
• Make as many services as possible available on-line
• If you need special help, try to make arrangements that meet your needs
• Make it easy for you to make a comment or complaint, to help us improve services
• Monitor our performance, act on the results and review our standards

When you write to us (e-mail, letter or text message) we will:

• Provide you with a full response within 7 working days of receipt, but we will let you know if we can't. (We welcome emails which help us to respond more quickly)

When you telephone us we will:

• Aim to answer all calls and to do so within 10 seconds (3 rings)
• (Where automated systems are in place, we will tell you where you are in the queue)

When you visit us

• If you have an appointment we will see you within 5 minutes (of your appointment time)
• If you need an appointment we will make one for you
• We will respect your privacy
• If we cannot help you we will do our best to advise you who can.

If you visit or telephone us, the opening hours for the Civic Centre are 8.45 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday (excluding holidays) - those at other Council facilities may differ, depending on the service concerned.

If we visit you

• We will carry identification

How you can help us

We expect customers to:

• Treat staff and other customers politely and with the same courtesy that you expect from us
• Refrain from using abusive language or threatening behaviour

Contacting the Council

There are a number of ways you can |contact the Council.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with the service you have received please look at details of our |customer feedback policy.

Have your say

Through our |consultation process, we hope to give our residents every opportunity to participate in Council decisions.

Freedom of Information

The second part of the Freedom of Information Act came into effect from 1 January 2005. From this date you may write to or email the Council to ask for access to any information. For more information please visit the |Freedom of Information pages.