Natural England

Our service standards
How to comment or complain

Our service standards
- Introduction
- Our service standards
- Complaints and suggestions
- Information and openness
- Our performance 2005/2006

Our service standards

The purpose of our service standards is to let people know what they can expect from English Nature. They also let our staff know what is expected of them. We regularly monitor our performance against these standards and we publish a yearly report on our performance on our web site.

Service

The Standard We Aim For

General conduct

Staff wear name badges on suitable occasions, and provide efficient and helpful service on the telephone and in person. They give their name on the telephone and in correspondence and conduct themselves professionally.

General enquiries and requests for information

We will reply within 15 working days or acknowledge within five working days if the subject is complex. The acknowledgement will say who is dealing with your request and when you can expect a full reply.

Casework and formal consultations

We will reply within 20 working days of receipt or within the deadlines and timescales set by the consultation procedure. In complex cases which may exceed this response standard, we will send you an acknowledgement saying who is dealing with the case and when you can expect a full reply.

Telephone

Calls will be answered within 15 seconds. Answer-phone and voicemail messages will receive prompt attention and where possible calls will be returned within one working day. The use of answer-phones during working hours will be kept to a minimum.

Office hours

All main offices are open from 9 am - 5 pm (Monday to Thursday) and 9 am - 4.30 pm on Friday. Answer-phones are available outside normal hours on main office numbers (not direct dial numbers).

Our offices are closed on public holidays and on Maundy Thursday afternoon, the Queen's Birthday (the day after the Spring Bank Holiday), and between 25 December and 1 January.

Grants

We will acknowledge your application within five working days of receipt. The acknowledgement will tell you who is dealing with the case and when you will hear the outcome of your application.

Publications

Free publications will normally be dispatched within five working days of receipt of the request and priced publications within five working days of receipt of payment. If a publication is temporarily unavailable for any reason we will let you know when you will receive it.

Licences

Decisions on species applications will normally be made within 15 working days of receipt of completed application forms and references. If the case is complex we may take longer to consider the application, and we may ask you for more information. As soon as we identify that it may take longer to reach a decision we will contact you and let you know the reason for the delay and when you can expect a reply.

Invoices

Invoices will normally be paid within credit terms agreed with suppliers, subject to satisfactory delivery of goods and services.

If you would like a copy of this document on audio cassette tape, in larger print or in braille, please contact the Enquiry Service.