Unacceptable Behaviour Policy 2024 – 2028

The Council aspires to be an organisation that delivers excellent customer services, through a range of channels, in line with our click, call, come-in approach to Customer Services Delivery.

We will take account of our customer needs and will respond with patience and understanding when customers have specific requirements of us. We recognise that some of our customer will come into contact with the Council at difficult times in their lives and/or when experiencing challenging circumstances, and that this may cause them to act in ways that are out of character.

We will do our best to ensure that customers are offered appropriate support and guidance in their business with the Council. However, on occasion, customers may make unreasonable demands or behave in an unacceptable way and this Unacceptable Behaviour Policy sets out our approach to the few customers whose behaviour is considered unacceptable.

The Council has a Customer Charter which outlines how we will deal with customers and what we expect of them in return. The principles apply to all customers including those who visit Council offices and facilities, to customers where Council employees visit them in their own homes, and also to customers who correspond with the Council through traditional and digital channels.

All of our employees are entitled to respect as they carry out their roles and deliver our Council services. The Council takes a zero-tolerance approach to abuse of our employees and our zero tolerance poster is clearly displayed in buildings where customers may visit and interact with Council employees.

This policy aims to ensure that the Council takes a consistent and fair approach in dealing with customer or their representatives who make unreasonable demands of our employees or who behave in a manner that is considered unacceptable.

The policy sets out:

• The type of behaviour that might be regarded as unacceptable
• How employees should deal with the behaviour
• Actions the Council may take in response to a customer’s unacceptable behaviour.

There is a wide range of behaviour that may be deemed unacceptable. Whilst it is not possible to produce a comprehensive list of actions that would be considered inappropriate, this Policy sets out examples of unacceptable behaviour under two broad areas:

• Aggressive and/or abusive behaviour
• Making unreasonable demands of the Council

Ultimately it will be a matter for the Council to decide whether a particular customer’s actions or behaviour are inappropriate, as outlined below.

Aggressive and/or abusive behaviour

The Council expects its employees to be treated with courtesy and respect. The Council also understands the difference between aggression and the reasonable annoyance that a customer may feel in connection with their circumstances or a complaint they may be making.

Reasonable annoyance in relation to such circumstances is to be expected, but when this turns into inappropriate behaviour or aggression, this is not acceptable.

Violence, threats, offensive language or abuse towards employees is always unacceptable.

Violence includes acts of aggression that may result in physical harm but it also includes behaviour or language that may cause our employees or other customers to feel offended or afraid.

Examples of behaviours that fall under this heading include:

• Aggression
• Making threats
• Physical violence or intimidation
• Verbal abuse
• Using offensive language
• Making derogatory remarks
• Making inflammatory statements
• Making unsubstantiated allegations
• Making persistent allegations that have already been addressed.

Unacceptable behaviour can also include acts or threats against property, including actual or threatened damage to buildings, furniture, computers and digital equipment.

Making unreasonable demands of the council

Customers may make what are considered to be unreasonable demands on the Council. This may be through:

• Persistent and repeated requests for information or services which have already been provided
• The nature and scale of the services they expect
• The volume of correspondence they generate.

The Council accepts that persistence is not necessarily a form of unacceptable behaviour. However, we consider that the demands become unreasonable if the amount of time spent responding to an individual impacts on either our ability to deliver our services to that individual and/or to other customers.

What amounts to unreasonable demands will always depend on the circumstances of the customer and the seriousness of the issue raised by the customer.

Examples of behaviours that would fall into this category include:

• Inappropriate frequent visits, phone calls, emails or letters
• Insisting on seeing/speaking to a particular employee when a suitable alternative is offered
• Routinely ignoring the procedures for dealing with queries or complaints
• Continually requesting the same information
• Routinely copying the same correspondence/request to a number of people
• Demanding a response within an unreasonable timescale
• Not accepting that the issue raised/service requested has been addressed
• Not accepting that the issue raised/service requested is not within the remit of the Council despite being advised of this
• Inappropriately changing the substance of a query or complaint while the Council is dealing with it
• Frequently raising peripheral matters that do not relate to the main query or complaint
• Pursuing a complaint when the Council’s Complaints Procedure has been fully implemented and exhausted
• Re-raising or persistently raising matters that the Council has responded to.

There will be relatively few customers whose actions are considered by the Council to be unacceptable. How these actions are managed depends on the nature and extent of the behaviour. In the event of a Council employee considers a customer’s actions to be unacceptable, they may:

• Immediately inform the customer that their behaviour is inappropriate and politely terminate any conversation or phone call with the customer
• If violence, abuse or harassment is used or threatened, the incident may be reported to the Police and may result in the customer being noted as a potentially aggressive person. This will always be the case if physical violence is used or threatened
• If the behaviour is serious and/or consistently inappropriate or adversely affects the Council’s ability to do its work effectively, employees will refer the matter through the process identified in section 5 and action will be taken to restrict or manage the customer’s behaviour and permitted interaction with the Council.

If an employee considers that a customer’s actions or behaviour are unacceptable, they should firstly discuss this with their line manager in order to consider if any informal steps can be followed to resolve the situation

If no informal steps are appropriate or informal attempts to resolve the concerns do not work, the unacceptable behaviour will be escalated through the following sequence:

• Document the unacceptable behaviour
• Discussion with line manager
• Discussion with service manager or executive officer
• Unacceptable Customer Behaviour policy implemented, and sanctions agreed by Executive Officer, Customer Services & Organisational Development
• Letter issued to customer setting out how the policy is being applied
• Application of policy recorded on customer record through the customer relationship management system (CRM)
• Complaints team, customer service team and relevant Council service area all made aware.

As detailed above, if the customer’s actions are determined to be unacceptable, the Council will impose conditions on the way in which that customer will be permitted to engage with the Council. These conditions may include:

• Restrict the manner in which the customer may contact the Council
• Setting out the times at which the customer can contact the Council
• Restricting all contact with the Council to a named employee
• In extreme situations, limiting contact with the Council to either written communication or communication through a third party.

When the Unacceptable Customer Behaviour policy is being applied, the Council will write out to the customer to confirm this, clearly explaining the behaviour that is considered to be unacceptable and the action that is being taken as a result.

Where a customer continues to correspond on a wide range of issues or an issue that is considered to be concluded, the customer will be advised that we will not respond further on those matters.

The Council may also take any other action the Executive Officer, Customer Services & Organisational Development considers appropriate. The Council will always inform the customer of what action is being taken, why it is being taken and if relevant, how long the action will last for.

Any restrictions being imposed will be reviewed at a minimum of six months. The timing of such reviews will be set out in the letter the Council writes to explain the restrictions. The review will consider the customers behaviour since the implementation of the unacceptable behaviour policy and the restrictions may be removed or continued. The outcome of the review will also be communicated to the customer by letter.

Our employees deserve a safe and respectful place to work.

Any act of abuse, either physical or non physical such as assault, threats or name calling to an employee in the course of their duties will not be tolerated.

We will summon the assistance of the police to deal with perpetrators.

East Dunbartonshire Council is committed to delivering high quality, customer-focused services.

Our customer service pledge to you. We will:

• Provide excellent customer care however you wish to contact us
• Offer you choices in how you contact us to get information, request
  services or provide valuable feedback
• Be polite, helpful, sensitive and discreet in all our dealings with you
• Treat you fairly and equally and provide a translation service or
  written material in the format you need on request
• Use plain language when talking or writing to you
• Keep you informed of progress when we are handling enquiries
  or complaints
• Try to keep appointment times and tell you when there are delays
• Comply with the Data Protection Act at all times, only sharing information about you if you say we can, if we are permitted to do so by law or if not doing so would put you or someone else at risk
• Look for ways to continuously improve our service to you and learn from comments and complaints
• Check regularly that the terms of our Charter are being delivered to you

You can help us by:

• Giving us all of the information we need to help you
• Letting us know if you have any special needs
• Telling us how we can improve our service
• Asking us to explain anything you are not sure of
• Treating our employees with respect

For more information please contact
Tel: 0300 123 4510 Email: customer.services@eastdunbarton.gov.uk