Homelessness and housing advice
Our service aims to:
- Answer the telephone promptly, keep voice mail messages informative and up to date and reply to messages the same or next working day
- Reply to your letters within 15 days of receipt. If a reply is going to take longer, we will acknowledge your correspondence and let you know when you will get a reply
- See you within 10 minutes of your pre- booked appointment time. If we cannot, we will keep you informed
- See you the same day if you are homeless due to an emergency
- Be polite and courteous at all times, treating all customers fairly and equally
- Deal with any complaint you make in an open, professional and fair manner, giving a written response within 28 days
- Regularly ask for your opinion and suggestions on the service we give
- Tell you our performance targets and how we are meeting them
- Make a decision on your homeless application within 33 days (60 days in exceptional cases), explaining how we can help you
- Complete all reviews regarding homeless decisions within 21 days of receiving your request
- Provide a 24 hour homeless advice service if you become homeless outside office hours
What you can do as a customer to help us provide a good service
- Give us the information we ask for as soon as possible. This will help speed up the process
- Always make an appointment to see your caseworker
- Attend appointments on time and with all the information requested. This helps us keep appointments with other customers
- Tell us about any changes in your circumstances
- Please be polite and courteous to us
- Please be patient. There are times when we are very busy. We do what we can to keep waiting times to a minimum
How do we meet different people’s needs?
We realise that different people have different needs, and in assessing cases we will try to meet these different needs wherever possible.
We will:
- Interview you at a convenient location if you are unable to come to the office
- Interview you in private if you wish
- Ensure that you see an officer of the same sex in cases of domestic violence
- Arrange for an interpreter if your first language is not English
- Provide offices accessible if you have physical or sensory disabilities
Putting things right
We always try to provide the best service that we can.
If you want more information about our service standards, or you feel that the Homelessness & Housing Advice team have not met your expected standards then please let us know by first contacting Sara Saunders, Homeless & Housing Advice service manager on 01922 653486.
If you continue to be dissatisfied, we encourage you to complete a complaints form, available from Council offices, or alternatively you can fill in our online form.
This page was last updated on 27 August 2009