How we deal with unacceptable actions
Managing aggressive and abusive behaviour
Our colleagues have the right to be treated with respect and we will not hesitate to take appropriate action where there is aggression or other unacceptable behaviour aimed towards them. Incidents may be reported to the police and this will always be the case if physical violence is used or threatened.
We will not accept any correspondence that is abusive to our colleagues.
We will tell the customer that we consider their language offensive, unnecessary and unhelpful and ask them to stop using such language.
We will state that we will not respond to their correspondence if the action or behaviour continues.
Our staff will end phone calls if they consider the caller aggressive, abusive or offensive. Our colleagues have the right to make this decision, to tell the caller that their behaviour is unacceptable and to end the call if the behaviour continues.
In extreme cases, we will inform the customer that their name is on a Restricted Contact list. This means that we will limit contact with them, for example, to written communication or to contact through a third party.
Dealing with the other categories of unreasonable behaviour
We have to take action when unreasonable behaviour impairs the functioning of our services. We will ensure that any action we take is the minimum required to solve the problem, taking into account any personal circumstances including the seriousness of the complaint or issue and the needs of the customer.
We consider access to a complaints system as a vital element of our service and it will only be in exceptional circumstances that we would consider such repeated use as unacceptable.
We reserve the right to restrict access in those rare occasions where a customer repeatedly phones, visits, raises the same issues, or sends large numbers of documents where their relevance is not clear, we may decide to
- limit contact to telephone calls from the customer at set times on set days.
- restrict contact to a nominated member of staff who will deal with future correspondence from the customer
- see the customer by appointment only
- restrict contact from the customer to writing only
- return any documents to the customer or, in extreme cases, advise the customer that further irrelevant documents will be destroyed.
- take any other action that we consider appropriate.
Where we consider continued correspondence on a wide range of issues to be excessive, we may tell the customer that only a certain number of issues will be considered in a given period and ask them to limit or focus their requests accordingly.
We will always tell the customer what action we are taking and why. Customers will be advised that their behaviour is giving cause for concern, to provide them with the opportunity to change their behaviour in advance of any restriction being applied.
A written warning informing customers of our policy for dealing with problem behaviours will be sent and will
- identify the unacceptable behaviour
- explain why it is inappropriate
- explain the steps we have taken
- advise the customer that, if they do this again, restrictions will be put in place
- advise the customer on how to challenge the decision.