Customer Charter

The Customer Charter sets out our commitments to our residents and the customer service you can expect from us.

We will

  • be professional, helpful and courteous
  • take responsibility for your enquiry    
  • deal with your enquiry as quickly as we can    
  • provide easy access to our services 
  • say sorry when we get things wrong
  • be cost efficient in all our processes,     
  • continue to develop online services and provide up-to-date information about our services. You can access many of our services online 24 hours a day, 7 days per week when you self –serve. Visit the East Herts website to find out more.  
  • aim to acknowledge online applications and tell you what happens next
  • use plain language and avoid jargon
  • keep your information secure as safeguarding your personal data and protecting your privacy is important to us
  • assist customers visiting the office with an appointment within 15 minutes
  • respond to direct enquiries posted on our Facebook and Twitter accounts directly within 3 working days and if we know this is not possible, we will tell you when you can expect a full response
  • if we promise to call you back, we will aim to do this within 1 working day unless we advise you of a different timescale
  • if we arrange to visit you we will aim to be punctual wherever possible and always carry identification cards
  • when you contact us by email or letter we will aim to respond within 10 working days. If we are unable to do this we will tell you when you can expect a response

You can access many of our services online 24 hours a day, 7 days per week when you self –serve.  Visit the East Herts website to find out more.

In return, we need you to

  • Access services online where available, including making a payment for Council Tax or other services, reporting or requesting a service etc
  • be familiar with the performance targets detailed above and the service specific targets detailed below
  • give us the correct information at the right time
  • tell us when something changes
  • be on time for any appointments, and tell us if you can’t keep one
  • treat our staff with respect

Give us feedback

We want you to have confidence in the way we handle your contact with us.  

By giving us feedback you can help us to improve the way the council provides services. If you think we have done something really well, tell us that too so we can continue doing it.

However, we know that no-one gets everything right all the time, and if you want to tell us what went wrong please tell us so that we can look into it for you.  

Feedback can be submitted via our Comments, Compliments and Complaints forms.

Please note our policy for dealing with unreasonable customer contact

Service commitments to you 

Please use the drop down arrows below for individual service commitments.

General Enquiries & 3Cs (Comments, Complaints and Comments)

  • We will acknowledge your enquiry/complaint within 3 working days and will aim to have resolved it within 10 working days.
  • Where queries may take longer to resolve due to third-parties or complexity, we will ensure you are kept informed. 

We will respond to Council Tax Support appeals within 4 weeks.

The PCN appeal process is statutory – details can be found on the gov.uk website. 

  • We aim to determine major planning applications within 13 weeks once validated.
  • We aim to determine other types of applications within 8 weeks once validated.
  • We aim to acknowledge receipt of urgent  planning enforcement matters within the same day or the next working day and within 3 working days for all other cases.

  • All adverts will have a clear closing date and application process set out
  • Any queries will be responded within 3 working days
  • Applications will be reviewed and a shortlist produced within 2 weeks of any closing date, successful candidates will be contacted within this 2 week period, unsuccessful candidates are clear that if they don’t hear within 2 weeks their application has been unsuccessful
  • Applications will be shortlisted against the person specification to ensure consistency and fairness as well as providing evidence for any feedback required
  •  Any candidate who requests feedback on their application will be given feedback within 7 working days where possible or advised if this needs to be extended.
  • Candidates who are invited and attend a selection process will be informed of the outcome within 5 working days and feedback will be provided where requested again within 5 working days from the outcome where possible
  •  HR will carry out pre-employment checks a soon as possible, Candidates will be required to provide appropriate documentation/referees and support them being provided in a timely manner to complete all checks. 
  • East Herts HR and Recruiting Managers will determine if these checks are complete including determining whether the references are satisfactory before progressing from a conditional offer to a full offer. 
  • Candidates are advised not to resign and give notice until receiving a full offer, at this stage the candidate should agree a start date with the recruiting manager.

We will provide the electoral register within five working days of a valid request.

Review Council Tax decisions within 2 months regarding

  • Liability, discounts, disregards, exemptions, and reliefs under the regulations. 
  • and at that stage provide details of your rights of appeal to the Valuation Office Tribunal Service.

  • Reconsiderations  and Statement of reasons : We will respond to requests for reconsiderations or statement of reasons within 14 days.
  • Appeals: We will respond to appeals within 4 weeks.

We aim to process housing register applications, once all the information is received, within 40 working days.

  • 8 weeks for the determination of a Tree Application
  • Tree Preservation orders  (various deadlines for the serving and confirming of)
  • 21 days for Thorley Covenant
  • 5 days for dead/dying trees

  • Following an inspection of your premises, where appropriate, we aim to send a schedule of works to you within 10 working days.
  • We aim to determine animal welfare licenses within 42 days of receiving a complete application pack.
  • We aim to determine street trading consents within 42 days of receiving a complete application pack.
  • We aim to determine a mobile homes sites licence within 84 days of receiving a complete application.
  • We aim to determine a house in multiple occupation licence within 120 days of receiving a complete application pack.
  • We aim to determine a dangerous wild animals licence within 56 days of receiving a complete application.
  •  We aim to determine a zoo licence within 90 days of receiving a complete application.

Ways to contact us

You can access many of our services online 24 hours a day, 7 days per week when you self–serve.  Visit the East Herts website  to find out more.

Visit our Contact us page to:

  • Make a payment 
  • send an email directly to one of our teams;
  • find out where we're located;
  • find out our phone number; and,
  • find out our opening times so you can pay us a visit.
Feedback button
Feedback button