We want Hertfordshire to be a great place to live and work. We do this by giving everyone the best possible services and customer care.
When you call us
We aim to answer calls within 5 rings and try to answer your queries there and then, as accurately as we can.
If that's not possible, we'll respond within 3 working days.
We respect confidentiality and always explain our decisions and reasons for those decisions.
When you email us
We'll respond to your email within 2 weeks (10 working days).
Any complaints emailed to us will be acknowledged within 3 working days.
When you send us a letter or fax
We'll reply to your letter within 2 weeks (10 working days). If that's not possible, we'll let you know when you can expect a response.
When you visit us
We'll meet with you within 5 minutes of your appointment time in a private space, if possible. We'll let you know of any delays we can't avoid and will offer you an alternative appointment time if need be.
If you visit us without an appointment, we'll aim to see you within 15 minutes.
We'll aim to give at least 1 week (5 working days) notice of visits and meetings. We'll let you know as soon as possible if the visit is delayed or has to be cancelled.
Social media
We have various social media accounts for a number of our services. There are some instances where we may remove certain contributions that break the rules or guidelines:
Social media moderation guidance
We have a number of social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) which we invite the public to interact with us on.
These online communities have rules and guidelines which we will always follow.
We reserve the right to remove any contributions from the public that break the rules or guidelines as listed below.
- Be polite, respectful and relevant.
- Do not post messages that are unlawful, libellous, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented or racially offensive.
- Do not swear.
- Do not post content copied from elsewhere, for which you do not own the copyright.
- Do not post the same message, or very similar messages, more than once (this is called "spamming").
- Do not publicise your, or anyone else's, personal information, such as contact details.
- Do not advertise products or services.
- Do not impersonate someone else.
Defamation
Please take care not to make defamatory statements. In law this means a statement that lowers the reputation of a person or organisation in the eyes of a reasonable person. By publishing such a statement, we can both get into serious trouble. We will therefore take down any statement that could be deemed to be defamatory.
Pre-election period
The Council itself, as opposed to its political administration, must be politically neutral in its communications. Therefore, please do not use any of our pages to promote party political messages or other content.
This is a particularly sensitive issue in the run-up to an election and we need to be mindful of how content may be perceived (regardless of what was intended).
We will remove any comments that, in our view, may compromise our obligation to maintain political neutrality.
Complaints
If you want to raise a concern or a complaint about something posted on a page that we are responsible for, you can find details about our complaints procedures and make a complaint online.
You should not rely on a social media platform itself to raise concerns. Not all platforms will be monitored continuously, especially out of normal working hours. In these instances it may be better to contact us.
What we expect from you
Please treat our staff and other service users with respect at all times (in person, on the phone or in writing/email).
We will not tolerate verbal or physical abuse, aggressive or bullying behaviour and will take appropriate action where this occurs, such as limiting contact or removing access to services.
We always try to meet and exceed these customer service standards. We measure our performance so we can keep improving our services.
We publish and act on the results from regular customer satisfaction surveys and you're welcome to make a comment or complaint.
You can also make a Freedom of Information request or request information we hold about you.