Service Users Care Policy

Ilays is committed to delivering excellent client service. This customer care policy sets out what this commitment means in practice, what our users can expect from us and what we expect from our users.

Ilays provides a wide range of services across for ethnically diverse communities from the Somali East African backgrounds in the London Borough of Hounslow and it is important that everyone receives the same high-quality response. If Ilays is unable to help our client or there are other service providers that can help more than us then we will signpost/refer users to appropriate external services.

Throughout this policy the term Users represents Ilays ’s service users and/or users.

Our promise to you
We are committed to promoting access to our services and offering choice wherever possible in the services we provide and the way we deliver them. Workers and volunteers are responsible for providing an efficient, caring and professional service.

Responses
Client contact should be provided in the most appropriate format. For example, it is not necessarily the case that all letters will receive a postal response.

We will ensure that you are dealt with:

• quickly
• fairly
• In a courteous, helpful manner.

We will always:

• be open and honest and explain our decisions
• ensure that workers take responsibility for resolving or dealing with your query, or that they refer it to an appropriate colleague
• give as much information as possible to help you make informed choices
• Act in accordance with the law.

We would like you to:

• give us the information we need to help you
• treat all our workers fairly and with respect
• give us your views and suggestions to help us to improve our services.
• keep any appointments that you have with us.
• tell us if you know of any other users who need our help or feel they have not been treated fairly.

 

Our customer care standards

Face to face contact

We will:

• make sure that our buildings are accessible
• display the opening times of public buildings and adhere to them
• greet visitors and introduce ourselves in a courteous manner
• respect your privacy, offering private areas for discussion if required
• make sure our workers identify themselves by wearing name badges
• listen to you and respond to your needs
• be welcoming, courteous and helpful at all times
• treat your home with respect when we visit you.

Contact by telephone

We will:

• aim to answer the telephone within a reasonable time, depending on capacity, during normal working hours.  If a member of workers is not available, their telephone should be answered by a colleague (by call diversion, transfer or group pick up).

• use answerphones as appropriate but the message will be as helpful and informative as possible.
• attempt to resolve your query at the first point of contact. If this is not possible we will pass your call to someone who can help and ensure that you have the name of the workers member dealing with the query.

Contact in writing

We will:

• aim to respond to standard written enquiries within 5 working days working days of receipt, resolving the issues raised if possible. If the issue is more complicated and likely to take longer to resolve, we will give you an idea of how long this will take.
• ensure that our users are aware of relevant policy and procedures that apply.
• ensure that within the response provided, users are given a named contact of the workers member dealing with the issue. 

What we ask of you
Ilays ’s workers and volunteers should not be expected to deal with rude, abusive or threatening behaviour. If such unpleasant behaviour is encountered and cannot be calmed down, workers will politely state that they will have to terminate contact (put the telephone down/leave the meeting etc).  Ilays will take appropriate action against any individuals who are abusive to workers.

 

Delivering an effective service to users with different needs
All our users have the right to expect the same level of service.  Ilaysshould be careful not to make assumptions about people’s needs or abilities but should consult them to identify their needs.

We will make every attempt to supply information in an appropriate format and we will make sure that disabled people and people whose first language is not English can, dependent on resources and availability, get access to interpreting, translation and communication support.

Making the policy a success
This policy sets out Ilays’s commitment to its users. In order for us to learn and improve our services we want to use the feedback from the contact that we have to make changes.

We will do this by:

• publicising our standards to our users
• carrying out customer surveys to measure the success of the policy
• introducing internal monitoring to help all our services meet the standards
• supporting and training workers to provide better customer service
• monitoring our complaints to identify where we need to make improvements.

Customer care policy
If you feel that we have not met the standards set out in this policy, you can speak to a member of our senior management team to give us your feedback. All feedback received will be investigated and receive a full response.

Confidentiality, Data Protection & Privacy and Conflicts of Interest

All our users have full access to all their information and data that we hold on to. Data and information will be used in line with our Confidentiality and Data Protection policies and Privacy Statement.

We also have in place policies and procedures that enable us to identify and manage conflicts of interests internally and as regards the provision of services.

This policy should be read in conjunction with Ilays policy and procedures on:

• Equalities and diversity
• Confidentiality and Data Protection
• Complaints
• Case recording
• Signposting and Referrals

Approval Date:  02/04/2021

Reviewing due date:  05/05/2022