Southwark Charter

We at Southwark Council are working to improve the quality of our services, and the way in which you are able to get information and access to them. We hope the Southwark Charter will help you to understand the kind of service we think you should expect from us.

What you should expect of us...

Telephones

• 90 per cent of calls will be answered in 5 rings.
  

Letters

• 90 per cent of letters and e-mails will be answered in 10 working days; if this isn't possible we'll tell you why.
  

Visits

• We'll aim to see you within 5 minutes at any one of our public receptions, or let you know if the wait is likely to be longer.
  

Staff

• Our staff will be polite, courteous, professional and helpful whether you are contacting us by phone, letter or in person.
  

Plain language

• Whichever way we provide it - through letters, leaflets and other forms - our information will be clear, concise and easy to understand.
  

Complaints

• We'll acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and provide a full response to all stage 1 complaints within 15 working days. If there's a delay, we'll let you know the reason.
  

Opening hours

• We'll be open from 9am to 5pm as a minimum unless customers have asked us to open at different times; whatever our hours we will display them on site and in all service information.
  

Name badges

• All of our staff will wear name badges so you know who they are if you need to contact them again.
  
  
  

What we expect of you...

We expect that you will treat our staff in the way you want to be treated yourself - with respect and understanding.