Managing Customer Contact Policy
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Policy Statement
Pembrokeshire County Council is committed to providing excellent customer service to everyone who contacts us. Everyone is entitled to be treated respectfully, courteously and in a polite manner.
Where a customer raises an issue or complaint with us, they have a right to expect to be dealt with fairly and impartially.They should also receive a response which fully addresses their concerns in a timely manner.
When dealing with customers, we do not normally limit the form or amount of contact they have with us. However, as an employer, we have a duty to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our staff. The Council does not expect its staff to tolerate abusive, threatening, demeaning or offensive behaviour either verbally or in writing. Similarly, we do not expect our staff to deal with someone who, because of the frequency of their contact, places a strain on time and resources and causes undue stress for staff.
Council staff will respond professionally and sympathetically to all customers. Where a customer acts persistently, determinedly or assertively, they usually display this behaviour legitimately in the pursuit of a resolution to their concerns/complaint. However, there may be times when there is nothing further that can be reasonably done to assist a customer or rectify a perceived problem.
In such circumstances, the Council recognises that there are occasions when certain investigations should be drawn to a close, if there is no reasonable way of resolving the situation to everyone’s satisfaction.
The purpose of this policy is to explain the appropriate action that the Council will take against those customers deemed to be displaying unreasonable or unacceptable behaviour which can distress our staff or strain our resources with persistent and unreasonable demands.
In dealing with customers, the Council recognises that our resources, including staff time, have to be used responsibly and directed where they can provide the most value. This might mean that we cannot always resolve every concern/complaint in the manner and to the extent that a customer would choose.
Introduction
This policy sets out our approach to the relatively few customers whose actions or behaviour we consider to be unacceptable. We aim to deal fairly, honestly, consistently and appropriately with all complainants and requests for information but we retain the right to restrict or change access to our services where we consider a customer’s actions to be unacceptable. Our aim in doing this is to ensure that other customers and our staff do not suffer any disadvantage from customers who act in an unacceptable manner.
This policy is consistent with anyone’s rights under the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018, Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Principles of Policy
The Council expects our staff to be treated with courtesy and respect. We recognise that customers can at times feel under pressure, distressed or feel that they have to be determined to pursue their concerns. They can also feel angry about their situation.
The Council will distinguish between distress, frustration, forcefulness and determination, and any of these developing into unreasonably persistent and/or unacceptable behaviours.
It is difficult to provide a strict definition of what constitutes unacceptable behaviour, but broadly;
- Behaviour or language that may cause staff to feel seriously stressed, afraid, intimidated, threatened or abused, e.g. the use of language that could be described as foul, offensive, demeaning, inappropriate and/or racist, sexist or homophobic, threats of physical violence, derogatory remarks, rudeness, harassment, inflammatory statements and unsubstantiated allegations;
- Unreasonably persistent customers who, because of the frequency or nature of their contact, place a strain on time and resources, e.g. pursuing complaints in inappropriate ways, pursuing issues which have no substance or are outside of the Council’s remit, or which have already been investigated and the outcome determined.
This type of behaviour can be exhibited in many different manners, including in person, on the telephone, in written or email correspondence.
When dealing with this kind of behaviour, the Council will take into account the frequency of contact, the content of the contact, the actions we took to resolve the customer’s concerns/complaint and the level of disruption caused.
Examples of unreasonable behaviour include:
- Making unnecessarily excessive demands on the time and resources of staff whilst an issue or complaint is being investigated. This could include excessive telephone contact, sending emails to numerous members of staff or Members or numerous emails to one member of staff or Members or writing lengthy, complex letters every few days and expecting immediate and comprehensive responses;
- Submitting repeated issues or service complaints, after the complaints process has been exhausted. These may include additions or variations to the original service complaint which the customer insists makes the complaint worthy of being put through the full complaints process again. Such behaviour will not result in the acceptance of a new complaint;
- Refusing to accept an outcome of a complaint once the Council has concluded its investigation. This may include repeatedly arguing the point and complaining about the decision and not accepting the further escalation routes open to the customer.
- Insisting that the complaint should be dealt with in ways which are incompatible with standard procedure or good practice; or
- Refusing to accept documented evidence as factual.
What it means in practice
The Council operates a zero tolerance approach to unreasonable behaviour and will protect its staff from such behaviour.
If a customer behaves in an unreasonable way, the Council will follow this policy to manage such behaviour and to control or limit the contact which customers have with our staff. In such circumstances, we may have to consider placing restrictions on how and whether a customer may contact us.
If unreasonable behaviour occurs during a telephone conversation, Council staff will explain to the caller why their behaviour is unacceptable. The caller will be given the opportunity to stop the unacceptable behaviour. If the unacceptable behaviour continues, Council staff will inform the caller that they are ending the call and will record the reason for the termination on the appropriate Council IT system.
If unreasonable behaviour is displayed in written correspondence, the Council will respond in writing to the customer addressing the query or complaint in full, whilst also stating that the correspondence received is unacceptable and ask the customer to refrain from this behaviour in future correspondence. A note will be made on an appropriate Council IT System of the unreasonable behaviour and that the customer has been asked to refrain from displaying this behaviour in future correspondence.
Following unreasonable behaviour (which may be either repeated behaviour or a one-off instance, and considered on a case-by-case basis) a Council Corporate Manager/Head of Service or Director will contact the customer either by phone, in writing or by email to explain why this behaviour is causing concern, and ask them to change this behaviour. The warning will contain:
- Details of when the incident occurred;
- The reasons why the Council consider the behaviour to be unreasonably persistent or unacceptable;
- An explanation of the effect this behaviour is having on the Council and its staff; and
- What could happen should the behaviour continue. We may also send a copy of this policy.
If the disruptive behaviour continues a Council Corporate Manager/Head of Service or Director will issue a reminder letter to the customer. This will advise them that, if they continue to act unreasonably, their future contact with the Council will be restricted.
Where the behaviour is particularly serious, a Council Corporate Manager/Head of Service or Director may decide at its sole discretion that this policy and sanctions herein should be applied without prior warning. In that event a Council Corporate Manager/Head of Service or Director will write directly to the customer explaining the reasons for this.
There are a range of ways that the Council can restrict access, and the action applied depends on the nature of the behaviour.
These include, but are not limited to:
- Restricting contact to one method (e.g. letter only), or named member(s) of staff, or particular times of day;
- Accepting contact through a third party only;
- Only acknowledging further correspondence where new and pertinent information is presented which has not previously been considered;
- Refusing to accept further telephone calls;
- Restricting the issues we will correspond on; and
- Requesting the customer to enter into an agreement about their future conduct.
Any action we take will be reasonable and proportionate. It will balance the interests of the customer with the duty to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff.
When the Council applies this policy to a customer, we will write to them setting out:
- The reasons why we believe their behaviour to be unreasonably persistent or unacceptable;
- What action we have decided to take in response to this behaviour; and
- How and when we will review any decision to restrict access to us and to what subject matter this will apply.
12 months after we take the decision to apply the policy, a Council Corporate Manager/Head of Service or Director will carry out a review as to whether the restriction should be extended, amended or removed. They will also specify to what subject matter it will apply, e.g. not to re-open an original complaint if the Council has exhausted its complaints process.
Where a customer continues to behave in such a way which is unreasonably persistent or unacceptable, we may decide to continue to restrict access to the Council for the purpose of pursuing a previous complaint.
Where a customer has changed their behaviour to the extent that the Council does not believe that the policy should still apply, we will amend or remove the contact restrictions.
Once we have completed this review of contact, a Council Corporate Manager/Head of Service or Director will write to the customer and advise them of what decision we reach, and why.
A customer can appeal a decision to implement this policy by asking a Council Corporate Manager/Head of Service or Director to review the original decision to implement contact restrictions. Relationships between organisations and customers sometimes break down badly when complaints are under investigation and there is little prospect of achieving a satisfactory outcome. In such circumstances there may be nothing to gain from following through all stages of the Council’s Complaints Policy. In these circumstances, the Ombudsman may, exceptionally, be prepared to consider complaints before complaints procedures have been exhausted – if the request is made by both sides to the dispute.
A customer who has been treated as behaving unreasonably may make a complaint to the Ombudsman about it. The Ombudsman is unlikely to be critical of the Council’s action if it can show that it acted proportionately, reasonably and in accordance with its adopted policy.
Where the behaviour is so extreme or it threatens the immediate safety and welfare of staff, the Council will consider other options, for example reporting the matter to the police or taking legal action. In such cases, the Council may not give the customer prior warning of that action.
We will treat new concerns/complaints from those who have been dealt with previously under this policy on their own merits.