Customer Service

City of Newcastle (CN) serves the community, and our customers including residents, workers, visitors, community groups, businesses, and investors.

This Customer Service Charter sets out our commitment to you as our customer and the standards of service we aim to deliver for our community.

We care about our customers and endeavour to meet your needs, wants and expectations through exceptional service delivery.

Our commitment to you

Our TRuST principles outline our commitment to building trust and positive relationships with our customers by providing experiences that are:

• Transparent - you know who we are, what we do and what to expect from us
• Respectful - you receive valuable services, appropriate outcomes, and feel heard
• Simple - it is easy to do or find what you need, across any communications channel
• Timely - we provide outcomes early and are responsive to your needs

We will act in the interest of our community by making impartial and ethical decisions and upholding our core values of Cooperation, Respect, Excellence and Wellbeing.

We will act in accordance to the law, City of Newcastle's Code of Conduct and the Code of Meeting Practice.

While we aim to provide the best outcome for our customers, CN makes decisions that are consistent, fair and in line with Council policies and relevant legislation that may result in decisions you may not agree with. When providing the outcomes, we seek to do this in a way that is empathetic and understanding of your circumstances.

What to expect when interacting with us

We value our customers' time and are committed to offering a choice of how to interact with us.

When interacting with us our people will:

• Be professional, respectful and courteous
• Be knowledgeable, patient, and helpful
• Attempt to resolve your enquiry at the first point of contact
• Be supported by systems and processes to best serve you
• Record necessary information in our official recordkeeping systems
• Keep you appropriately informed of the progress when dealing with complex service requests
• Be sensitive to any language or other communication difficulties in line with CN's Disability Inclusion Action Plan
• Maintain our commitment to protecting your personal information in accordance with CN's Privacy Statement

If you visit our websites or mobile apps, we will aim to:

• Provide clear and relevant information
• Provide easy and intuitive interfaces
• Provide accessible content and services
• Connect you to other relevant information and provide support options

If you call us, we will aim to:

• Answer calls promptly or offer a call back so you don't have to wait
• Resolve your enquiry the first time, where possible, or forward your enquiry to a specialist staff member who can
• Provide a 24-hour phone service for urgent, after-hours calls
• Provide the name of the Customer Service Officer or Supervisor, if requested

If you visit our City Administration Centre, we will aim to:

• Attend to you at the customer service counter within five minutes
• Make specialist staff available by phone or in person, either on request (making a mutually convenient appointment) or by prior arrangement

If you write to us, we will aim to:

• Acknowledge correspondence or provide an interim reply (with approximate date of completion) within a reasonable timeframe
• Respond in writing, or by phone where appropriate, and record the response in our official recordkeeping systems
• Include the name and contact details of the officer dealing with the matter

If you see us in the city, such as in parks, beaches, and sportsgrounds, we will aim to:

• Put your safety and that of our staff at the forefront of our interactions
• Endeavour to resolve any enquiries you may have or provide details of an alternate contact who can help

Help us, help you

To help us deliver high quality and efficient services, we ask you to:

• Treat us, other customers, and community property with respect
• Provide us with information that is timely, accurate and complete
• Work with us to solve problems and reach resolutions
• Contact us if you believe we have made an error
• Provide us with honest, constructive, and timely feedback, compliments or complaints
• Quote reference numbers when contacting us about an existing matter

CN is committed to safety and wellbeing and has a zero tolerance towards any harm, abuse, or threats of its staff as detailed in our Unreasonable Complainant Conduct Policy which aligns to the NSW Ombudsman Model Policy.

Customer engagement and satisfaction

We aim to give our customers a great experience every time they interact with us.

We value our customers' input on how we can do better, and regularly engage with our customers through community consultations, public exhibitions, feedback, surveys, and codesign opportunities.

We commit to provide relevant information in a timely manner for public exhibition.

To be involved in our community engagement activities, visit our Get Involved page.

Complaints, compliments, and feedback

Your voice is important to us.

Whilst we strive to do our best for the community, we understand that there will be times when we may not meet your expectations and we'd like to know so we can improve.

If you are dissatisfied with a service, process, or staff member of City of Newcastle, complete the make a complaint form.

We also want to hear about your positive experiences with our staff, service/s or facilities so we can keep doing more of what you like and acknowledge our team members for good work.

To tell us about a good experience or suggest improvements, complete the give a compliment or provide feedback form.