Customer Care Policy

Background

This policy relates to the activities operated by Lincolnshire Voluntary and Community Partnership.

Statement of Intent

Our mission is ‘to enable the development of stable, thriving communities with the capacity to
plan and manage lasting improvements to their quality of life’.

Our Services

Our services aim to:
a) Strengthen connections within communities
b) Increase the impact of voluntary action
c) Stimulate inclusive economic growth
d) Reduce inequalities
e) Improve health and wellbeing

Service Definitions

1. Services to individuals

We ensure that people are able to access our services in a variety of ways, to suit their lifestyle choices and needs.

    Our services deal with the following interventions:-

    Enquiries – in person, or by telephone, email, social media and website, or post usually to
    find out about opportunities available in the local area, or to gain information, or self refer

    Appointment – a one-to-one appointment in person, by telephone or video link.

    Outreach – including talks to community groups, health and care professionals, and other
    statutory and non-statutory service providers.

    Referrals – made on behalf of an individual or groups of Individuals to an appropriate
    community activity.

    Signposting – providing information to facilitate community activity.

    Follow-up – Individual confirmed as ‘placed’ in a community activity.

    2. Services to organisations

    We work with organisations across the county to gain an in-depth understanding of the services they provide, develop appropriate community activities for individuals to access and provide appropriate support for the sustainability of those projects through our Volunteer Centre Services- referring volunteers and providing support with policies, procedures, dissemination of information, training and networking opportunities.

    Standards of care
    We aim to provide a service which is responsive to the needs of our clients, and is consistent
    in quality and effectiveness across the County.

    1. Individuals

    Stage 1: Clients make an initial enquiry in person, or by telephone, email, or via a third party
    referral. This is acknowledged usually on the day of contact/receipt and definitely within a
    maximum of 10 working days. They will be thanked for their interest and the parameters of the service will be broadly explained. They will also be notified of how their data is stored and issued an abridged version of our privacy notice. Individuals who decide not to take their enquiry further will be signposted to a more appropriate service, where necessary.

    Stage 2: Individuals are offered either an appointment in person or by telephone, video link,
    or an outreach session, or details of self helps sites such as Connect to Support or Help My
    Street, to suit their preferences, timescales and locality.

    At the appointment our team member will discuss with the individual their interests, skills and
    goals and help match them with appropriate opportunities. Data protection and confidentiality
    procedures will be explained to them, before entering the individual’s details on the
    database. The team member will explain that no personal information will be passed to
    anyone except the organisation/s the individual chooses to be referred to and, if appropriate,
    to comply with the requirements of funders.

    The team member will make referrals on behalf of the individual to the opportunities and
    organisations they are interested in pursuing.

    Each interaction will be logged on the relevant database, to maintain an audit trail.
    Information relating to individuals will be stored securely and we will only collect information
    that is appropriate to facilitating their community activity and for statistical monitoring.
    Anyone working with information is expected to work within data protection and
    confidentiality requirements.

    Stage 3: All Individuals are followed up as a minimum standard at 1 month and again at 6
    months, by phone, email or letter/questionnaire and outcomes/action required recorded on a
    CRM system.

    2. Organisations

    Stage 1: All the organisations we work with are registered on the database so that we can
    track our relationship and interactions.

    Stage 2: We work hard to ensure that the community activities offered on the local database
    are current and relevant to the needs of Individuals by:-

      • Proactively seeking out new organisations and working with them to develop new
        opportunities, especially where there may be a gap, e.g community befriending
      • Seeking feedback from individuals
      • Seeking feedback from staff and volunteers
      • Providing a mix of full-time, part-time and short-term opportunities
      • Offering micro-volunteering opportunities.

      Stage 3: Organisations are routinely contacted when their opportunities are due to expire, to
      check whether or not they still active and if they have others to advertise.

      We collect feedback from organisations through a range of different routes: follow up on
      referrals made, comments books, training evaluation, networking meetings, social media,
      and contact by email, telephone and letter.

      We undertake an annual survey of organisations as a minimum to ascertain how satisfied
      organisations are with the service we provide. Lincolnshire County Council and some District
      Councils also conduct a quarterly external audit of our services, including the individual
      experience for organisations and individuals.

      3. Managing information

      Individuals at Stage 2 will be asked for their consent to have their details entered onto a
      CRM system. Data protection and confidentiality procedures will be explained to them. No
      personal information will be passed to anyone except the organisations the individual
      chooses to be referred to and to comply with the requirements of funders.

      Information will be stored securely and we will not collect any unnecessary data about the
      individuals, but only that appropriate to their volunteering activity.

      Each intervention will be logged on a CRM system, to maintain an audit trail.

      Anyone working with individual information will work within data protection and confidentiality
      requirements.

      4. Feedback and complaints

      We will deal with any comment or complaint fairly and transparently and will always consider
      comments and complaints to help shape the future of our delivery.

      5. Feedback about our service

      If an individual has any complaints, compliments or suggestions we encourage them to
      feedback using any method appropriate to them, e.g. email, telephone, social media,
      evaluation forms, surveys, etc.

      If contact details are supplied, we will reply within 10 working days to let the Individual know what action we will take.

      Organisations are asked for their feedback on our services on at least an annual basis, via a survey, but also through networking meetings, training and telephone and email contact.

      6. Complaints about our service

      Should follow the Complaints Policy.

      7. Maintaining excellent standards

      The Customer Care Policy is underpinned in all through:-

      • Appropriate staff and volunteer training
      • Staff with essential core skills – eg, IAG, NVQs, customer care training
      • Data protection compliance
      • Appropriate staff job descriptions and volunteer role descriptions
      • External scrutiny, eg Matrix and local authority external audits

      Individuals, staff and volunteers are made aware of the customer care policy and procedure
      through:-

      • Leaflets
      • Websites
      • Display boards
      • Through staff/volunteer induction
      • On shared drives
      • Team meetings

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      LCVS

      Location

      Room G8, Municipal Buildings, West Street, Boston, Lincolnshire, PE21 8QR
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      VCS

      Location

      City Hall, Beaumont Fee, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN1 1DF
      Lincolnshire Armed Forces Community Bronze Award
      Lincolnshire Community and Voluntary Services | Company Limited by Guarantee no. 3503128 | Charity Registration No: 1069356 | Room G8, Municipal Buildings, West Street, Boston, Lincolnshire PE21 8QR
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