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Home > About us > Policies and practices > Policy on unacceptable behaviour
1. The Ombudsman is often the last resort for customers who bring complaints to this Office. However, we also have a duty to ensure the safety and welfare of our staff.
2. We are committed to dealing with all customers fairly and impartially and to providing a high quality service. As part of this service we do not normally limit the contact customers have with this Office. However we do not expect our staff to tolerate behaviour by customers which is unacceptable, for example, which is abusive, offensive or threatening, and we will take action to protect our staff from that behaviour.
3. When we consider that a customer’s behaviour is unacceptable we will tell them why we find their behaviour unacceptable and we will ask them to change it. If the unacceptable behaviour continues, we will take action to restrict the customer’s contact with our Office.
4. The decision to restrict access to our Office will be taken at Director level (or above) . Any restrictions imposed will be appropriate and proportionate. The options we are most likely to consider are:
• requesting contact in a particular form (for example, letters only);
• requiring contact to take place with a named officer;
• restricting telephone calls to specified days and times; and/or
• asking the customer to enter into an agreement about their conduct
5. In all cases we will write to tell the customer why we believe their behaviour is unacceptable, what action we are taking and the duration of that action. We will also tell them how they can challenge the decision if they disagree with it.
6. Where a customer continues to behave in a way which is unacceptable, we may decide to terminate contact with that customer.
7. Where the behaviour is so extreme that it threatens the immediate safety and welfare of the Ombudsman’s staff or others, we will consider other options, for example, reporting the matter to the Police or taking legal action. In such cases, we may not give the customer prior warning of that action.
September 2008
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