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Treat all fairly
'Treat all people fairly, respect their privacy and dignity, be helpful, be
open and communicate clearly and effectively in plain language to help those using public
services and provide full information about services, their cost and how well they
perform.'
Organisations should design and deliver services so that all customers receive fair
treatment irrespective of their physical or mental condition. In order to ensure that this
goal is met particular attention should be paid to the requirements of those with special
needs.
The following factors can assist with this task:
Public Consultation
Before policies and services can be properly developed it is important to establish the
needs of all customers, potential service users and businesses. This must be done in a
structured and transparent way. It may not always be possible to meet every need for
legal, practical or financial reasons, but this should not stop the process of
consultation and needs assessment taking place. It will often be possible to incorporate
such research within customer feedback mechanisms or satisfaction monitoring.
Customer Service Policy
The customer service policy should be at the core of ensuring everyone is treated
fairly. The style and content can vary greatly from simple guidelines for staff to
detailed procedures, but staff and customers must always be clear about what outcomes can
be expected. In order to achieve this result, training or briefing on the policy and
promoting its availability to customers are important aspects. A good customer service
policy will typically contain:
 | Published service standards (including Enforcement Policy) |
| Service charters |
| Links to a complaints procedure |
| Practical guidance on action to be taken when answering the telephone, greeting
customers, wearing of name badges etc. |
Staff Training and Development
A good customer service policy and culture requires support from proper staff training
and development in order to ensure that guidance manifests itself as action. Training
needs to include:
| Customer care principles |
| Telephone answering |
| Letter writing and the use of plain English |
| Assertiveness |
| Awareness of the needs of minority groups |
| Dealing with difficult people |
| Negotiation skills |
| Presentation skills |
| Interview skills. |
Assessment of customer care competence should be included within a performance
appraisal review each year, and any deficiencies addressed through structured training
plans.
Consistency in Enforcement
The work of staff needs to be monitored by managers to ensure consistency in the
application of legislation and that enforcement action reflects the level of risk and
statutory responsibilities. Suitable methods include:
| Joint visits involving staff and the manager overseeing the service area. |
| Inter-authority audits |
| Reviewing feedback from businesses and the public |
| Monitoring correspondence and formal notices |
| Workshop exercises |
| Peer reviews between field officers. |
Access to Services
It is important that all customers have equal opportunities to access services, but
this may not necessarily mean at Council offices. In some cases home visits will be more
appropriate, particularly where there may be access problems to Council buildings that
cannot be easily resolved.
Access to services can also be improved by being as flexible as possible as to when and
where services are delivered. This does not have to be unnecessarily onerous and may just
mean offering appointment times.
For those visiting an office the reception area will be important, and many
organisations are judged initially by the way they are treated by receptionists who need
to be knowledgeable, friendly, polite and able to cope during times of pressure.
As a high proportion of customers contact local authorities using the telephone, call
handling is important. There is often scope for providing freephone contact numbers,
direct dial facilities, hotlines or recorded information for repetitive basic queries such
as fee charges.
Special Needs Groups
For groups of users with special needs it is vital that consultation should involve
representative organisations, including local and national disability groups, to establish
how services can be tailored to meet their needs.
Other Options
Opportunities can be taken to improve users' access to services by taking the services
out into the community through roadshows, exhibitions and displays.
Examples of Good Practice
| Name given on telephone. |
| Appointments offered. |
| Published Customer Service Policy. |
| Identifying case officers by name. |
| Name badges worn. |
| Regular contact with disabled groups on service delivery issues. |
| Use of customer feedback to steer service development. |
| Telephone hotlines. |
| Freephone numbers. |
| Equal Opportunities training for all staff. |
| Staff with signing skills for users with hearing impairment. |
| Leaflets and information on audio tapes and in braille. |
| Toys and refreshments for reception visitors. |
| Video/telephone links to remote offices. |
| Service roadshows/exhibitions. |
| Home visits for disabled users. |
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CASE STUDY 10 : Customer
Guide on Audiotape
(Source : Test Valley Borough Council)
Introduction
Test Valley Borough Council has recently produced its customer
guide on audiotape format. The guide provides information for anyone who is visually
impaired. It is also useful for those who wish to use this format to study its contents
(e.g. car drivers).
Service Development
The tapes were a logical progression from large-print format
leaflets and the use of minicom and induction loop systems for the deaf. The tapes have
been produced in partnership with the Talking Newspaper organisation and are distributed
to key disability agencies and promoted in the Council's own free newspaper.
The Benefits
The tape format makes the guide more accessible to disadvantaged
groups who may be unaware of the services available through the Environmental Health
Department.
Feedback received
This is an initiative which has not yet received specific
feedback from users, but is aimed to encourage it through the guide.
Comments
Good example of partnership working which results in an
appropriate format of information for a specific group. Also demonstrates how continuous
improvement can be used to build upon existing initiatives. |
CASE STUDY 11 : Staff
Involvement
(Source : London Borough of Bexley)
Introduction
The Council has a programme of customer care training to support
its Customer Care Policy. At a recent meeting staff of the Commercial Services Division of
the Environmental Health Service, staff identified that racial and cultural awareness
training would help avoid barriers to effective communication.
Service Development
Discussions were held with the staff concerned to identify
particular areas of concern. These were then put to the Directorate Management Team who
authorised inclusion of, and funding for, the training within this year's training plan.
An appropriate provider was identified by the Council's Central
Training and Development Department and a meeting arranged with staff representatives. A
set of training objectives and an appropriate programme were then developed and delivered.
Benefits
The training activity had the benefit of providing a discussion
on equal opportunity issues and areas where improvements could be made. It also helped
identify additional training needs which needed to be addressed.
Feedback
The training provider was complimentary about the issues raised
by staff and commented that they were very practical and focused on improving customer
care.
Comments
Staff involvement clearly has had a direct role to play in
improving public services; and also indirectly, improved morale. |
CASE STUDY 12 : Home Safety
Service
(Source : London Borough of Croydon)
Introduction
A Home Safety Service has been established aimed at reducing the
number of accidents in the home to children under five. The Service is a partnership
scheme between the Environmental Health Department and Croydon Health Authority involving
a fully trained Home Safety Officer helping parents and carers to identify potential
hazards in the home.
Service Development
The scheme was introduced following a Think Tank project which
looked at the inequalities in the health of people living in the two most deprived areas
of the Borough. Using various techniques to consult the local communities, it was
established what needed to be done to protect and improve the health of local people. A
fully trained Home Safety Officer was appointed to liaise with health visitors and social
workers to help parents and carers identify potential hazards in the home by carrying out
free safety checks and fitting safety equipment such as smoke detectors, stair gates and
fire guards. A leaflet in plain English, including contact details in other relevant
languages (Turkish, Portuguese, French and Arabic), was used to promote the service in the
target areas.
Benefits
The Home Safety Officer has carried out over 250 safety checks
and fitted a wide range of safety equipment to reduce substantially the risk to small
children of accidents in the home. Additionally, the Officer has provided a flashing smoke
detector for a person with hearing difficulties and installed a banister rail to help an
epileptic child to use the stairs safely.
Feedback
Following a successful pilot the scheme has now been extended to
other deprived areas of the borough, and mainstream funding has been secured to enable the
service to continue indefinitely.
Comments
An excellent example of joint working and community consultation
to deliver a practical service to people living in what are recognised as some of the most
deprived areas of the borough. |
CASE STUDY 13 : Customer
Profiling
(Source : Birmingham City Council)
Introduction
A recent key objective at Birmingham City Council was to improve
equality monitoring systems and to introduce customer profiling on its main public
telephone lines for Public Health and Trading Standards and the waste collection Hotline.
Service Development
Profiling information is entered onto the Department's computer
system immediately after entering details of the request for service. The introductory
text and questions about the service user's age, gender, ethnicity and disability appear
on the computer screen to be completed by the officer taking the call. All officers
involved in taking the calls receive specific training on customer profiling.
Because profiling involved asking personal information over the
telephone, the scheme was piloted for four months, before being fully introduced in July
1998. It is now in place for every tenth telephone call on the main Public Health and
Trading Standards telephone lines and every twentieth call on the waste collection
Hotline.
The data collected can be presented in a variety of ways. Age,
gender, ethnicity and disability can be profiled against:
| the Ward in which the service user lives |
| type of service requested e.g. pest control |
| specific job type e.g. rat infestation. |
Customer profiling information can also be compared with Ward
profiles drawn from the Census to determine if the Department's service users reflect that
which might be expected from Census data, i.e. it can help to identify whether certain
people are not accessing the service.
Benefits
Customer profiling for over half of the Department's core
services provides valuable information about service users and non-service users. This
information will be used in research projects to identify service improvements for a
variety of target groups. Depending upon the results of the analysis and identifying where
the need lies, four such projects are included in this year's Equality Action Plan.
Feedback
The evaluation of the four month pilot provided valuable feedback
on whether the public would accept this form of service-user monitoring. No major problems
were encountered and of the 406 responses evaluated there were only 13 refusals to answer
any or all of the questions, which means that 97% of service users asked provided the
Department with information about their age, gender, ethnicity and disability.
Comments
The establishment of meaningful customer profiles will help to
assess the extent to which people receive fair and equal treatment when accessing the
Department's services, provide a mechanism to start assessing the needs of service users,
and help in identifying areas of service provision where improvements are required to meet
those needs. |
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