How to draw up a local charter

An introduction for public services

2nd Edition

April 2000

Foreword By the Minister of State, Cabinet Office

This Government is committed to making real and lasting improvements to our public services. And to bringing those services closer to the people who use them. The Modernising Government White Paper that we published in March 1999 set out our vision of the modern public services Britain needs if it is to thrive in the new millennium, and we are determined to make that vision a reality. 

Transparency is important, and we support the idea that every organisation in the public sector should have a charter setting out the standard of service that users can expect. The process of drawing up or revising a charter offers an organisation the opportunity to actively involve staff and users in discussions about its services; to ensure that it has mechanisms in place to support continuous improvement, for example by providing contact points for comments or complaints, and procedures to record the information gained; to consider the scope for closer working with related service providers; and to establish how its standards and commitment to quality might best be communicated to the public at large. 

But it is essential that charters are useful and accessible. They are of little use if they are vague or incomprehensible, or focus on things that users consider irrelevant or unimportant. That is why in 1998 we produced a guide to preparing local charters to help organisations wishing to introduce a charter or review an existing one. This edition has been updated to reflect both the challenges set out in the Modernising Government White Paper, and the knowledge that we have gained in the last two years as more and more public sector organisations have developed charters. 

Charters are a valuable tool for improving services. Local charters are important because they relate to specific services delivered in a local area, and can be tailored to the ‘local’ audience. We hope that this guide will help and encourage local services to produce charters, improve their quality, and make them more meaningful to the people who use them.

Ian McCartney

How to draw up a local charter

Contents

Flowchart - Developing a local charter - Please click here for the flow chart

What makes a good local charter: key points to remember

What local services say . . .

‘Our practice charter lets patients know what standards they can expect from us, and what we expect from them to help us deliver a high quality service.’
Alan Grimes, Ferrybridge Medical Centre, West Yorkshire

‘In preparation for our local Jobseeker and Employer Charters we consulted our customers extensively to ensure that our standards of service reflected their expectations.’
Lisa Maiolani, Employment Service Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway District

‘We have reviewed our cross-sectoral community care charter in line with the latest guidance, and are producing a new `Better-Care, Higher Standards’ local charter. We are involving a wide range of service providers to ensure that users have good information, access to services and service standards set out in a way that they can really understand.’
Sue Groves, Wolverhampton Social Services

‘Our parent’s charter is a useful platform for setting out best quality service standards and for highlighting the importance of working in partnership with our parents and pupils to achieve these standards.’
Geraldine Keegan, St Mary’s College, Northern Ireland

'Our charter sets out the standards against which customers can measure our service, and gives our staff a benchmark below which they cannot dip.’
Seth Brook, Environment Department, Hertfordshire County Council