Customer charters
Please click here to view the Corporate Charter and find links to all the charters on the right hand side of this screen.
Following our recent Corporate Customer Charter survey and annual review of service specific charters, revised charters have now been published. Thanks to all those who took part in the survey by sharing their views. Following this consultation with customers and staff, the full feedback report can be seen here - Charter Survey Results 2008
The main changes and improvements made to the corporate charter are summarised below:
Changes
The logo is now shown at the top of the Charter, making it easy to identify as a council document
The statements are easier to read and in simpler (plain) English
The corporate Charter will be reviewed 3 yearly and not annually, so that our customers and staff become fully familiar with the contents
New Items
Now included is a statement that performance figures will be published on Southampton Online, for example telephone and letter monitoring statistics
- There is now information about how to make a comment or complaint
Further promotion
There will be a review of which relevant council documentation the Charter will be included in.
The Southampton Partnership and other partnerships will be used to promote awareness of the Charter
Work has started to make the charter more accessible for people with learning difficulties.
If you would like a poster version of the Charter please e mail customer.services@southampton.gov.uk
Background to the Charter
The Southampton City Council Corporate Customer Charter was launched on 3rd October, 2006 during National Customer Service Week, alongside 17 service specific Charters.
It is one of the foundation stones for us to ensure that our customers are aware of what they can expect as a minimum level of service from our staff, wherever and whoever they are dealing with.
In November 2005 Customer Services were asked to plan and develop the implementation of a Customer Charter. It has been created, clearly linking into the organisational core values and key priorities.
The draft Charter was developed with staff working within the council at all levels. Of course, being a Customer Charter it was important that we consulted our customers. Following the consultation an overwhelming number of customers responded that they thought having a Charter was a good thing.
Amendments were made to the draft Charter, following customer and staff feedback, which led to the publication of the Charter in 2006.
Last updated: 15 July 2008
