CUSTOMER CARE AND ACCESS PLAN 2006-2009

Vision and Values

Our Strategic Vision is for a cleaner, safer, more prosperous Borough.

Our Core Values are:

Have respect for the individual

Be better and better

Commit to the community.

Our Customer Care Vision

Havant Borough Council is committed to supporting excellence in public service. The Council wishes to provide excellent customer service for residents, visitors and businesses. We recognise that excellent customer care is an important hallmark if we are to be a successful organisation.

We aim to be accessible and user-focused by placing the customer at the heart of our service delivery. We plan to focus our services around the needs of all sections of the community, because we want to ensure good and effective access to high quality public services for all of our diverse community.

Our Vision for Customer Care is to develop arrangements over the next three years so that all our customers have easy access to high quality, responsive and seamless services that meet their needs.

Commitment to Improving Customer Care

Our Customer Care Charter sets out the approach staff and councillors must take in providing customer care. The customer care standards we aim to provide now are that our customers will:

Always receive prompt, respectful, courteous treatment;
Be told the name of the person who is taking responsibility for dealing with their enquiry or problem;
Be given clear and correct answers to enquiries and receive clear advice from Council employees;
Have access to service standards for council services;
Be consulted regularly and encouraged to take an active interest in local decision-making;
Be able to use the simple, quick and fair complaints scheme if they do not receive the service they want.

Our Customer Care Targets are to ensure that:

Switchboard and individual direct dial telephone extensions are answered within 15 seconds;
Customer Service Centre telephones are answered within 20 seconds;
Abandoned telephone calls to our Customer Service Centre are less than 8% of all calls made;
Letters to the Council are replied to within 10 working days and where appropriate an acknowledgement is provided within 3 working days;
Emails to the Customer Service Centre are replied to within 10 working days and where appropriate an acknowledgement is provided within 1 working day;
Text messages to the Customer Service Centre are replied to within 10 working days and where appropriate an acknowledgement is provided within 1 working day;
Visitors to our Customer Service Centre reception are dealt with within 10 minutes;
More than 80% of customer enquiries are dealt with at the first point of contact, i.e. our Customer Service Centre;
Customer Service Centre performance is rated at 95% of customers satisfied or very satisfied;
More than 80% of formal complaints to the Council are resolved within 10 working days.

Commitment to Improving Customer Access

Access for our customers can be simply described as "the way in". Local people and businesses often find access to council services difficult and confusing. The public sector can be seen as internally focused, rather than outwardly focused on the customer.

Our Customer Care and Access Plan 2006-2009 seeks to identify barriers for our customers and to put in place plans for improvement which, over time, will enable easier access to the public services our residents, visitors and businesses need.

The Council’s Corporate Strategy titled ‘Focus On Our Future’ was published in October 2005, covering the three years from 2005-2008. A key component of the Corporate Strategy is that it sets the Council’s strategic direction and priority for focusing on our customers:

"Customer focus is a key driver for Havant Borough Council, and in April 2005 the Audit Commission rated us as having a good two star (out of possible three) customer service, with promising prospects for improvement.

We seek to provide a range of customer-focused services, whether you live in, work in or visit Havant. We will consult you regularly and in a variety of ways to help us provide the services that you want and we will use all possible means to ensure they are delivered at a cost that is affordable. We will work to increase your involvement in the local democratic process and in elections.

We recognise that we will need to provide services according to the many different needs of distinctive communities in the Borough. We are in a unique position to provide a community leadership role. Wherever practical we want the local community to develop its own capacity to make a difference to the local neighbourhood. We will help you to do this in a variety of ways, including through the recently established network of Community Boards which are now an integral part of the Havant Community Partnership.

We are committed to enhancing our communication and consultation with service users. Particular focus will be given to our website and accessibility of service through electronic means; development of our Citizens’ and Youth Panels; and the Community Newspaper Serving You".

The Council's Customer Care and Access Plan 2006-2009 includes our action plans to improve our customer care arrangements and to enable better access to public services provided by the Council and its partners. It states where we believe we are now and details the actions that we will be taking to improve.

The Plan seeks to take into account the needs of all sections of our communities and we will continue to consult and involve our customers and local strategic partners during its implementation.

Havant Borough Council, Civic Centre Road, Havant, Hampshire PO9 2AX