If you telephone us….
As a minimum all Stockton Council telephone lines are open from 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday to Thursday and 8:30am – 4:30pm Friday.Our Telephone Contact Centre (that deals with enquiries for Council Tax, Business Rates, Housing Benefit, Care for your Area, School Admissions and Free School Meals) has extended opening hours.
We aim to answer your call within 5 rings.
Officers will respond politely, giving their name and service area.
A prompt call back will be arranged when we cannot respond to your enquiry immediately.
If your call is made out of hours and answered by a voicemail facility we will provide the appropriate contact details and clear information about when you will receive a response.
If you email us…
You will receive an acknowledgement within 1 working day.
We will aim to email you a full response within 10 working days.
All responses will include the name of the officer and service area dealing with your enquiry
If you write to us…
We will aim to send you a full response within 10 working days, or a progress report with timescales.
Our response will include full contact details of the officer and service area dealing with your enquiry.
If you visit our receptions areas…
Our reception services are open from 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday to Thursday and 8:30am – 4:30pm Friday.
We will aim to attend to you within 10 minutes of your arrival.
We will aim to keep to pre-arranged appointment times but will let you know in good time if appointments are running late or have to be re-arranged.
Our staff will wear readable name badges and will be welcoming, polite and helpful.
Our reception areas will be accessible, clean, tidy and inviting with clearly displayed opening hours.
Up to date information will be available on other council and partner services.
A free courtesy telephone will be available if you need to call one of the council’s services.
If we visit you at your home…
Visiting staff will show you their Stockton Borough Council identity badge.
We will let you know in good time if your appointment is running late or has to be re-arranged.
You will be advised of the actions resulting from the visit.
If you make a complaint…
We will investigate your complaint and look carefully at the issue you have raised with a view to improving our services.
We will respond to your complaint as quickly as possible, generally this will be within 10 working days.
If you are unhappy with the way we deal with your complaint we will review the follow up action taken and advise you of the outcome within 20 working days.
