Customer service
In Natural England, we do our best to provide you with the highest possible standard of service.
- Our promise to you
- Customer service standard
- Tell us how you think we are doing
- Feedback summaries
- Customer surveys
- Freedom of Information requests
- Land Management Customer Charter
- Feedback recorded by the Customer Service team
- Land Use customer satisfaction statistics
- Improving our Evidence Function
Our promise to you
As the Government’s adviser on the natural environment, Natural England are committed to provide practical advice, grounded in science, on how best to safeguard England’s natural wealth for the benefit of everyone.
Our remit is to ensure sustainable stewardship of the land and sea so that people and nature can thrive. It is our responsibility to see that England’s rich natural environment can adapt and survive intact for future generations to enjoy.
We work with farmers and land managers; business and industry; planners and developers; national and local government; interest groups and local communities to help them improve their local environment, and have made a public commitment to these customers through our new Customer service promise that:
- Our people will be professional and courteous at all times.
- Our people will be properly trained.
- Our people will put themselves in your shoes and be practical and helpful.
- We will have published service and delivery standards and be open about our performance against them.
- We will treat you with courtesy and respect at all times.
- We will communicate with you clearly.
- We will provide information that is accurate and up-to-date.
- We will listen to you and respond to your feedback.
- We will use your feedback, comments and complaints to help us improve our services in the future.
When you contact us
- We will deal with your enquiry sensitively and confidentially.
- Our people will be available between 08:30 and 17:00 Monday to Friday.
- We will answer your telephone calls within 30 seconds whenever possible.
- We will respond to your general email enquiries and letters within 10 working days. In some instances we may take longer to respond if your enquiry is more complex. Where this is the case we will inform you.
- If you need to make a complaint , we will acknowledge it within 5 working days and respond within 20.
- We will do our best to understand your needs and the way in which you want to deal with us.
When you meet us
We will:
- be reliable and agree suitable times and dates for our meeting/visit.
- be approachable.
- set realistic expectations for our meeting/visit.
- be prepared.
- listen to you and discuss your needs.
- do our best to understand any issues that may be affecting your business.
- work with you to best meet the business objectives of both you and Natural England.
- look for positive solutions to achieve the best outcome wherever we can – when we are not able to do this, we will explain our decisions.
- give you professional, consistent and expert advice and support.
- respect customer confidentiality.
- be credible advocates of Natural England and its business objectives and be confident in negotiating with you to meet those objectives.
Our customer service standard
To meet our promise to you we work to our customer service standard
Tell us how you think we are doing
We welcome and value your comments, complaints and suggestions about how we provide our service. We would like to hear from you if you:
- feel that you have received a good service from us
- would like to suggest ways in which we can improve our service
- are unhappy about the way a member of staff helped you or with the level of service you have received
- feel that you have been treated unfairly, insensitively, or have been discriminated against
- feel that we have not met our ‘Promise to you’.
Please send us your feedback using our online Feedback form, email us or call us on 0845 600 3078 (local rate).
Should you wish to make a formal complaint please also see the Natural England complaints procedure.
Feedback summaries
Quarterly summaries of our national online feedback:
| Period | Complaints | Compliments | Suggestions/
Comments | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 January-March 2013 | 18 | 3 | 8 | Q4 2012-13 |
| Q3 October-December 2012 | 8 | 2 | 5 | Q3 2012-13 |
| Q2 July-September 2012 | 23 | 2 | 10 | Q2 2012-13 |
| Q1 April-June 2012 | 16 | 1 | 3 | Q1 2012-13 |
| Q4 January-March 2012 | 8 | 1 | 6 | Q4 2011-12 |
| Q3 October-December 2011 | 17 | 0 | 27 | Q3 2011-12 |
| Q2 July-September 2011 | 13 | 18 | 9 | Q2 2011-12 |
| Q1 April-June 2011 | 12 | 3 | 12 | Q1 2011-12 |
| Q4 January-March 2011 | 18 | 5 | 5 | Q4 2010-11 |
| Q3 October-December 2010 | 19 | 0 | 7 | Q3 2010-11 |
| Q2 July-September 2010 | 15 | 4 | 4 | Q2 2010-11 |
| Q1 April-June 2010 | 15 | 5 | 11 | Q1 2010-11 |
| Q4 January-March 2010 | 12 | 1 | 10 | Q4 2009-10 |
Response times to online feedback
Average response times to online customer feedback, which includes compliments, complaints, comments, suggestions:
| Period | Forms received | Average response time (days) |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 January-March 2013 | 29 | 7 |
| Q3 October-December 2012 | 15 | 9.5 |
| Q2 July-September 2012 | 35 | 5.5 |
| Q1 April-June 2012 | 20 | 4.5 |
| Q4 January-March 2012 | 15 | 5.25 |
| Q3 October-December 2011 | 44 | 6.7 |
| Q2 July-September 2011 | 30 | 9.9 |
| Q1 April-June 2011 | 27 | 7.4 |
| Q4 January-March 2011 | 28 | 5.3 |
| Q3 October–December 2010 | 26 | 8.4 |
| Q2 July–September 2010 | 23 | 9 |
Customer surveys
Key results:
| Survey | Familiarity (%) | Satisfaction (%) | Report |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011/12
Partner survey | 95 | 70 | Partner survey 2011/12: (1.67mb) |
| 2011/12
Land management customers only | n/a | 82 | Customer Survey 2011/12: (1.08mb) |
| 2011/12
Regulation customers only | n/a | 55 | Customer Survey 2011/12: (1.37mb) |
| 2011/12
Land use customers only | n/a | 57 | Customer Survey 2011/12: (1.16mb) |
| 2010/11
Environmental Stewardship customers only | 68 | 84 | Customer Survey 2010/11: (523kb) |
| 2009 | 69 | 71 | Customer Survey 2009: (1.39mb) |
Freedom of Information requests
See Disclosure log
Land Management Customer Charter
We have developed a Land Management Customer Charter that defines the minimum customer service standards that apply to situations where our advisers work specifically with land management customers.
Feedback recorded by the Customer Service team
The graph shows the number of compliments, comments/suggestions and complaints received each month, and the number of complaints responded to within the 20 working day timescale. These are recorded by Customer Services Team staff, who are geographically spread throughout England. This information gives the team and the organisation valuable insight from our large customer base and is used to inform the organisation of the work that we are doing well and also any areas that are to be investigated for possible improvements.
The graph will be updated every two months.
Land Use customer satisfaction statistics
Land Use customer satisfaction statistics 2012/13: (134kb)
