Customer service standards

Our customer service standards

Barnet Council is committed to giving you outstanding customer service whenever and however you choose to contact us. We have a set of commitments which set out how we as an organisation operate and what customers can expect from us.  

Residents can expect us to:

• be respectful, polite and treat individuals with empathy 
• respond to requests promptly, do things when we say we will, and be clear about our timescales
• resolve enquiries the first time contacted wherever possible, preventing being passed around or repeating information unnecessarily 
• make it easy to give us feedback so we can listen, learn and improve 
• help and support residents to use online services and continue to improve ours to ensure they are accessible to all
• ensure all communication that is written to residents is easy to understand 
• keep the customer information that is given to us safe and secure
• continually review process failures and improve where we have not met our commitments 

Our staff commitment to customer service:

• we aim to be a customer-focused organisation, which works with its residents to co-design services and continually improve the customer experience 
• we value our staff and provide training so all staff understand how to deliver great customer care
• we invest in online services that are easy to access, easy to use and available when they are needed 
• we ensure our services are accessible to all and we understand individual needs and circumstances
• our relationship with customers is based on mutual trust and transparency and we will manage our relationships with customers in a proactive way
• customers find it easy to do business with us

These were created in collaboration with residents and staff during 2019 to 2020. Improving your customer service experience is a continuous process and we are always open to hearing your feedback. 

Changes we are making

The website

Our website has gone through updates to make it easier to navigate and to use. In the most recent Resident Perception Survey (Autumn 2020) 73% of residents said that we have an informative website and 70% said our website is easy to use. 

On the phone

We know that it is still important that you can resolve queries on the phone and in 2021 we helped over 500,000 customers on the phone. Our customer satisfaction score for this service is 92%. 

However, we are always working to improve your experience talking to us. We are updating our phone systems so that you have an easier time speaking to the right person. This will be rolled out in January 2022

Better updates

As part of our customer service updates, we will provide better and faster updates on your enquiries. This will be rolled out across 18 months starting in January 2022

Complaints

Please tell us if our service falls short of our promise to you.