Falkirk Council is committed to the delivery of an excellent and effective customer focused Housing and Council Tax Benefit service that complies with relevant legislation and best practice and provides financial support to its citizens.
We will ensure that customers receive benefits to which they are entitled and that benefits are provided to those who are in need in our efforts to increase household incomes to tackle disadvantage and discrimination.
We strive to provide a service that:
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Meets the needs of the customer and our communities
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Delivers high quality outcomes
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Provides value for money
By ensuring we:
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Tackle discrimination and disadvantage by actively promoting and maximizing take-up of benefit.
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Provide easy to understand but comprehensive forms and letters with clear signposting, to reduce the need for customer contact.
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Offers a home visiting service to customers who have difficulty getting to our offices on request.
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Refer our customers to other services and benefits where they need additional support.
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Encourage social inclusion through effective partnership working and reducing barriers by streamlining services and sharing information appropriately.
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Process benefit claims speedily and accurately.
Reduce overpayments.
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Recover overpaid benefit fairly taking into account other financial problems.
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Pay tenants promptly in accordance with best practice and government legislation.
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Minimize fraud and error by securing the gateway to the claiming process effectively and by carrying out cross-checks during the life of a claim.
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Provide a service that is accessible and supportive to all of our customers.
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Have regard to the diverse needs, social welfare and human rights of our customers e.g. we provide a large print, Braille and Audio tape service on request and can arrange for the services of an interpreter where appropriate.
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Listen to our customers and respond to feedback.
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Contribute to the council's housing strategy by helping people to access private rented housing and sustain tenancies to prevent homelessness.
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Contribute to the council's Anti-Poverty Strategy by maximising household income to help tackle disadvantage and discrimination.
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Encourage a strong, supportive culture of excellent performance amongst staff.
Right time targets
The Right Time target measures how quickly we process new claims and changes in circumstances for Housing and Council Tax Benefit. We report our performance monthly to the Department for Work and Pensions.
Our target for 2009 / 10 was 33 days for new claims and 17 days for change events. For 2010 / 11 this has been changed to 32 days for new claims and 15 days for change events.
To see how we are doing visit our Housing Benefit - Current Performance Indicators| page.
Consulting with Stakeholders
We want to provide all of our customers with an excellent service. We try to identify who our customers are and then consult them to see how we are doing.
You can view the results of our most recent survey here Finance Services: customer surveys |
If you want to tell us where we are doing well or how we can improve our service to you download our comments form and hand it in to your local office or send it to:
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Central Support Team
Falkirk Council Revenues Service
MSU1, Callendar Square
Falkirk, FK1 1UJ
Our Customer Charter and Service Standards outline our targets for Customer Service and the level of service you can expect to receive from our staff when contacting us either by phone, in writing, in person or when we visit you in your home.