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Customer Satisfaction

Service Standards

At all times we will

  • Deal with you in a polite and helpful way.
  • Listen to you and take account of your views.
  • If we cannot help you directly we will put you in touch with someone who can.



Visiting our reception;

  • Our reception is open Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 5.00pm, and 8.30am to 4.30pm Friday.
  • You will usually be seen within 15 minutes, but often sooner.
  • You can discuss your enquiry in a private interview room.
  • We will keep our reception areas clean and tidy.
  • We will do as much as we can to make our reception areas physically accessible.
  • We will provide a translator if you need one.



Telephoning Us;

  • You can call us 8.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Thursday, and 8.30am to 4.30pm Friday.
  • Outside these hours you can leave a message on our answerphone.
  • We will aim to answer your call in 5 rings.
  • If we cannot deal with your enquiry at the time of your call we will call you back the next working day.



Emailing Us;

  • We will acknowledge your email within 1 day and respond in full within 10 working days.



Writing to Us;

  • We will acknowledge letters within 5 days and respond in full within 10 working days.



Visiting you
;

  • We have a dedicated visit line. You can call our visitline on 526674. This service will allow you to re-arrange appointments at your convenience.
  • Our Visitors will show you their identification cards when they arrive.
  • We can set up passwords for security if you prefer.



About your claim

  • We will process your claim within 14 days of receiving all the information we need.
  • On average we will process your claim within 29 days of receiving your claim form.
  • We will process all change of circumstances within 9 days of receiving the change.
  • We will send your appeals to the Tribunals Service within 3 calender months.
  • We will pay your Housing Benefit within 7 days of a successful decision being made on your claim.


Complaints

  • We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and respond within 10 working days
  • We will investigate your complaint fully.
  • We will consider your complaint to see how we can improve our service so the same complaint does not arise again.
Who to Contact
Housing And Council Tax Benefits
16, Church Road
Stockton-on-Tees
TS18 1TX
Tel: 01642 393829
Fax: 01642 526669
Minicom: (01642) 605569
Email: benefits.section
@stockton.gov.uk


Map of 16 Church Road
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