Our Customer Code of Conduct

Residents must always show consideration to other people by:

• Being courteous and polite at all times
• Listening to and respecting other people’s opinions.
• Treating other people fairly and equally, regardless of race, gender reassignment, disability, cultural and religious beliefs, age, sex, Maternity or Pregnancy, Marriage or Civil Partnership or sexual orientation.
• Working in partnership with others, always striving for effective working relationships.
• Acting in an open minded, non-judgemental way.
• If raising an issue relating to poor staff performance doing it in a constructive way with a view to getting things right in the future and not criticising individuals. Any concerns about individual staff must be raised, in confidence, with the Trust’s Customer Voice Team.

Participants should at all times observe the following points while taking part in a meeting.

• Attend meetings or give apologies to the relevant person
• Keep to the agenda
• Fulfil tasks assigned in a timely manner - meeting any deadlines
• Be courteous and help other members to find the best solution to issues being 
  discussed.
• Take part in discussions in a calm manor not showing any aggression or behave in a way which makes others feel uncomfortable or intimidated
• Not talking over other people in meetings
• Try to resolve any differences of opinion with other members by being open and honest.
• Not use the meeting to deal with personal issues
• Raise any issues of personal concern directly with the Trust’s staff members in attendance or Customer Voice and Communications Team and not in the meeting
• Abide by the decisions of the meeting

The Customer Voice Team will email or post out all documentation and agendas no more than 5 working days before the meeting date.

It’s the responsibility of the member to read all the documentation and information given 
before the meeting so they are well prepared. 

As agreed in your Terms of Reference(if applicable); Any customer (tenant, shared owner or leaseholder) is able to apply to join the group unless they are in breach of their tenancy agreement or lease, sanctioned under the Trust’s Unacceptable Behaviour Policy or do not have an open legal case against the Trust and can apply to the Customer Voice Team.

Generally speaking, the business of involved customers should only be conducted at its 
designated meetings. Therefore, involved customers must:

• Refrain from contacting other members, between meetings, to talk about Trust matters, unless authorised to do so at a meeting.
• Support the decisions / action from meetings in any outside forum

A conflict of interest arises when someone’s personal views or connections might influence or affect decisions on matters that are under discussion and/ or they might receive a personal benefit from it. Therefore, involved customers should:

• Disclose any interest, whether personal or on behalf of any group they represent, that they consider may affect or influence their approach to the matter under discussion.
• Not expect to receive more or less favourable treatment by others because of they are an involved customer.
• If a conflict of interest, or potential conflict of interest arises, participants must raise this immediately with the Customer Voice and Communications Manager or Officer at the Trust, so that a decision can be taken about continued involvement in that particular 
  task/project.
• Not have a legal case against the Trust open including disrepair against the Trust 
• Not be sanctioned under the Trust’s Unacceptable Behaviour Policy

The Customer Voice and Communications Manager is the designated person for dealing with a breach of the Code of Conduct, Terms of Reference (if applicable.) and failure to comply with the Meeting protocol. 

Should there be a breach of any of the above, whether inside or outside of meetings/ events, the Customer Voice and Communications Manager or Officer will either:

• Give a verbal warning to the individual
• Give a written warning to the individual
• Give the person an opportunity to rectify the breach
• If, despite a warning, a participant continues to breach the rules, or otherwise seriously disrupts a meeting, the Customer Voice Manager or Customer Engagement Officer will 
  expel or suspend them from meeting/s
• Arrange for the person to be given additional training and/or support where or;
• Temporarily, or permanently remove the person from any involved list if the breach is severe and cannot be rectified by taking the above action.

Any involved customers should alert the Customer Voice Manager or Customer Engagement Officer to another involved customer’s breach of the rules and request that they take the appropriate action.

If a participant feels they have been treated unfairly in relation to any breaches of the Code of Conduct, they are entitled to use the Complaints Procedure given below.

The aim is always to develop an effective working partnership between involved customers and the Trust. However, there may be occasions when involved customers and the Trust may not be able to reach an agreement regarding a particular issue.

Should a dispute/disagreement arise between involved customers and an officer or team 
leader/manager, the Customer Voice and Communications Manager or Officer will approach a senior manager and ask them to arbitrate. If the dispute occurs between involved customers and a senior manager, the Customer Voice and Communications Manager or Officer will seek intervention/arbitration by the Head of Customer Experience. It is proposed that all such disputes be dealt with in 28 calendar days.

It is the expectation that complaints between individual customers should be dealt with by the individuals concerned.

However, if it is a service complaint, you can go through our complaints process.

You can view this here.