Christian Action Housing

Christian Action Housing (CAH) aims to provide high quality services to its tenants, leaseholders, clients and every person, agency or organisation that it comes into contact with.

CAH will also ensure that these standards are adhered to internally to ensure that staff respond to one another efficiently and promptly. This in turn will ensure high levels of service to our customers.

The values that support CAH’s customer care standards are:

• Politeness
• Courtesy
• Respect
• Fairness

CAH will:

• Aim to get it right first time but if it goes wrong we will put it right and will learn from our mistakes
• Strive to provide an accessible service to the community we serve
• Take steps to continually improve by measuring customer satisfaction, listening to all of our customers, responding to their needs and training staff to keep up to date with best practice in every field of our business
• Expect anyone (including contractors) working on behalf of CAH to comply with these standards

What Can Our Customers Expect?

Standards for reception/ personal callers

• We will have our offices open between 9.00 and 5.00pm on weekdays
• We will be friendly, welcoming and make sure you know the name of the person you are speaking with
• We will attend to people in reception within 30 seconds
• We will see visitors for housing staff within 10 minutes and offer an interview if required
• We will offer use of an interview room for private interviews
• We will arrange an appointment for you to see the appropriate member of staff at our offices within 5 working days of receiving the request
• We will see people with appointments at the agreed time
• We will keep reception and interview room clean and tidy
• We will make sure reception has information about our services and opening times clearly visible
• We will provide special services for people with hearing or sight problems (loop induction system, publications in large print or Braille)
• We will provide translation or interpretation on request for people who do not have English as a first language

Standards for letters and emails

• We will send an acknowledgement slip or e-receipt within 48 hours (excluding week-ends and public holidays)
• We will answer letter or emails in full within 10 working days
• We will send requested forms within 10 working days
• We will use plain English and avoid jargon and we will be clear and to the point
• We will sign letters and clearly print the name, department and telephone number of the appropriate person
• We will provide letters in other formats if needed (Braille, large print, on cassette or translated into another language)

Standards for telephone

• We will have phone lines open on weekdays between 9.00am and 5.00pm, including lunchtime
• We will always give you our name so that you know who you are talking to
• We will aim to answer the phone within 5 rings (At peak times there may be a call queuing system)
• We will take responsibility for your call. We will put you through to someone who can help you or if they are unavailable we will take a message
• We will return your call if you have left a message, on the same or the next day. If we need extra time to deal with your query we will phone you to tell you when we will have an answer
• We will answer the call in person whenever possible and only use voicemail when we cannot take your call
• We will check answer-phone and voice mail messages daily
• On the voice mail message we will always advise you when we will be back and give an alternative person to contact
• We will always answer unattended ringing phones and show willingness to provide a service
• If you need to ring us at evenings and weekends, the 01992 765900 number will have an answer-phone service to take messages. It will give information on emergency repairs telephone numbers and office opening hours
• We will provide an interpreting service on request to enable tenants who do not speak English so that they can communicate with us

Standards for complaints

• We will take your complaint seriously
• We will try and resolve the complaint straight away and look for a solution
• We will respond to formal complaints in accordance with the policy
• We will apologise if your complaint is upheld
• We will learn from our mistakes so that we improve the service we provide
• Standards for communications and publications
• We will use the appropriate interpreting services to aid communication and information access where appropriate
• We will use the corporate style of presenting written information so that you will be able to recognise CAH documents
• We will regularly publish a newsletter for residents to keep them up to date with news of CAH and other significant events

Standards for visiting your home

• We will make every effort to make appointments that suit you
• We will turn up at the agreed date and time or let you know if there is a problem in keeping the appointment
• We will carry ID cards and show them to you without being asked
• We will arrange for an interpreter or signer to help us talk with you, if you need it. Please let us know if you need this before we visit
• We will respect your home and be sensitive to your cultural beliefs. Please advise us about any special requirements that you have before we visit you.