Council residents 'to be treated as consumers' to boost confidence in local services

Options for redress when council services don't meet people's expectations - such as offering a high street voucher where appointments are missed and enabling people to track their complaints online - are to be considered in a drive to ensure customers are at the heart of local service delivery.

A new review team, including customer service expertise from Tesco and the National Consumer Council, will make sure that when people use council services they are treated as consumers - who know their rights if commitments are not kept or services fall short.

This review is part of a wider drive to put communities in control and give people a greater influence over how local services are delivered in their area.

The challenge for councils is to meet high customer care expectations, and recognise that dealing with problems is an equal if not greater test of their ability to deliver excellent services for their local communities.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said: "There have been tangible improvements in the standard of council services over the past 10 years. Yet consumer expectations also continue to rise.

"The new challenge for councils is to deliver better community engagement and a real increase in levels of customer satisfaction.

"Councils need to put people at the heart of service delivery, and take complaints seriously.

"Where things go wrong, people should be able to expect swift and fair redress. Getting this approach right should also help ensure that there is less need for redress going forward."

David Cook, Chief Executive of Kettering Borough Council and Chair of the Redress Review Team, said: "Councils have become highly attuned to the needs and wants of their inspectors, but perhaps less so to the demands of their customers.

"Now we have an opportunity to put the customer back at the heart of our business.

"Even the best businesses sometimes give their customers problems. It is the quality of solutions which truly define customer care. This is not just about financial redress. The value of a sincere apology and swift remedy is often overlooked."

David North, Community and Government Director at Tesco, said: "We put our customers at the very heart of everything we do and build our business around them.

"People have every right to expect good customer care in the wide range of services provided by their local authorities, and we are happy to share our experience."