We’re here to support all of our residents and we also have a duty as an employer to support our staff. This means making sure that they are treated fairly and with respect. Please help us to do so by being mindful of this when you’re dealing with them.
We will try to help you get the information you need or resolve any issues you may have, by listening and responding in a professional way.
We will try to make it easy for you to share your feedback with us, good or bad, so that we can continue to improve the quality of the service we provide.
We understand that sometimes we may not be able to help you as much as you would like and that this can be frustrating, however we ask that you speak to our staff kindly, fairly and without shouting, blaming or threatening them.
Any behaviour (physical, verbal or written) that is abusive, insulting or aggressive towards our staff will not be accepted and if necessary, we will report offences to the police.
PermalinkAbusive, insulting or aggressive behaviour could mean that someone is saying, doing or writing things that are hateful, discriminatory, harmful (physically or emotionally) or offensive to our staff or other people.
You may be asked to behave in an acceptable way and failing to do so might mean that:
- we are unable to continue to provide you with help
- our staff end a call
- you are asked to leave council-owned spaces
- we do not respond to your correspondence
Making excessive contact with the council or one particular person at the council, to the point that it impacts on our ability to help other people or carry out the usual amount of work, may be seen as unreasonable behaviour.
You can learn more about this in our Vexatious Complaints and Management of Unreasonable Behaviour Policy.
Excessive levels of contact can be considered as harassment.
This kind of behaviour whether it’s in person, over the phone, by email or on social media is unacceptable.
We will ask you to speak to us in an appropriate way and if you refuse or are unable to do so then staff will end the call, stop replying or stop the conversation.
PermalinkOur staff have the right to do their jobs without fear of violence or abuse. If you are threatening, aggressive, verbally or physically abusive this will not be tolerated. We will report instances to the police and you may be prosecuted.
PermalinkWhen speaking to someone at the council by telephone, please don’t take your frustrations out on the person on the other end of the line.
PermalinkWhen you use our residents’ engagement platform or social media channels to communicate with us, if you’re threatening or abusive, publish the names and contact information of individual members of council staff or make offensive, hateful or otherwise unacceptable comments they will be removed, your account may be blocked or muted.
We will report the post and the account to the platform provider. We will also make a report to the police if needed.
Permalink