Customer services data handling

Your right to privacy is very important to us and we recognise that when you choose to provide us with information about yourself, you trust us to act in a responsible manner. That's why we have put policies in place to protect your personal information.

Recording telephone calls

In some parts of the council we routinely record telephone calls for the following purposes:

  • To monitor the quality of call handling and customer service
  • Staff training, coaching and support
  • The verification of what was said if there is a dispute or complaint
  • To protect staff from abusive behaviour
  • To verify the customers agreement during certain service requests

If it is likely that your call will be recorded then reasonable efforts will be made to ensure you are aware of this fact. This will usually be achieved by playing a notification of recording at the start of your call.

Where there is a need to verify something that you have said (e.g. that the information you have provided in support of an application is true and accurate) you will be reminded that the conversation is being recorded.

Call Recording Policy (PDF)

Customer feedback

It is important that we understand your views about the service we provide. To do this we randomly select recent customer interactions by phone, visiting our offices for a service or emails, and then either phone, email or write to them for their views and opinions.

If you phone or email us and you do not want us to contact you for your views, please tell us during the call or email.

Sharing information

To help us design services that work better for customers and the community, we occasionally pool or share data from different parts of the council to better understand customer requirements.

This data stays within the council and whenever possible does not include data that can be linked to you as an individual. For a list of projects that involve sharing data please see our data sharing projects page.

Occasionally we may use the data that you have provided to tell you about other council services that may be of use to you but that you may not be aware of.

We may also cross-check data held in different parts of the council to identify potential fraud and other crime.

For more information please see our Data Protection - Fair Processing Notice webpage.

Privacy Notice

Customer services privacy notice (PDF)