Our service standards explain the level of service we aim to offer our customers.
Calls to our helpline – 0303 123 1113
We are committed to providing a helpful and knowledgeable service to those who contact us by telephone. In most cases your enquiry will be dealt with by the first person you speak to.
Where this is not possible we may need to transfer your call to someone better placed to help you. If we need to call you back we will aim to do this within one business day or at a time more convenient to you.
Written requests for advice
If you are writing to, or emailing, us for advice we aim to deal with your request within 30 calendar days. In most cases you will hear from us more quickly than this.
Complaints under the legislation we regulate
How long it takes us to deal with a complaint will depend on how complex it is.
Acknowledgment - We aim to acknowledge all new complaints within three working days of receiving them.
Ineligible complaints – If we are unable to accept your complaint we aim to make you aware of this within 30 calendar days of receiving it. If your complaint is ineligible we will tell you why and what options, if any, are available to you.
Eligible complaints – If we are able to accept your complaint we will allocate it to a case officer for consideration at our earliest opportunity.
We are currently dealing with a very large number of complaints. Whilst our response times continue to improve, it is taking us longer to deal with some individual complaints than we would like.
In just over half the eligible complaints we receive we are able to provide an outcome one to three months after we receive the complaint.
The remaining complaints tend to be more complex and take longer to resolve. Most are completed three to six months from when we receive them, with a small proportion being resolved six to twelve months after we receive them.
Read about our operational performance
Notification
If you contact us to apply for, change or renew a notification under the Data Protection Act you can expect us to process your request within seven calendar days of receiving it. Your request is valid from the date it arrives in our office.
Complaints about our service
All feedback about our service is valuable to us. If we have made a mistake your feedback helps us put things right and improve. If you appreciated what we did we are always keen to hear that too.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of the service we have provided, please see our case review and service complaints policy.