Helpline and Information Services Customer Charter

Scope's Helpline alongside Information and Support Services aim to offer the best combination of local knowledge and national disability expertise, providing free, impartial and expert information, advice and support to disabled people and their families.

To achieve this we pledge to provide the following:

• At the first point of contact, you will receive a polite, friendly, helpful and professional response.
• We aim for you to feel safe, with space to be listened to and we will have systems in place to ensure protection from harm. We will treat you with dignity and respect your beliefs and preferences.
• Your enquiry will be responded to within our specified quality standards and timescales. For example on the Scope Helpline we aim to respond to phone calls within 24 hours and emails within 48 hours.
• We aim to provide a range of access channels so you can contact us in the way you find most convenient such as phone, email, website, web forum and social networking.
• Your enquiry will remain confidential to Scope unless it falls within our Child/Adult Safeguarding or Terrorism Procedures.
• We aim to give accurate and relevant information in response to your query and this may include signposting you to another agency for specialist, local or ongoing advice. We can also put you in touch with other Scope services which may meet your needs.
• If you or someone in your family has cerebral palsy and you contact the Scope Helpline needing complex or local support you can be offered a referral to a Scope Regional Worker who will contact you within five working days of receiving the referral from the Helpline.
• We aim to provide you with quality information and, where resources allow, in the format or language that best suits your needs.
• We aim to ensure that Scope produced information is evidence-based, accurate and up-to-date and conforms to quality standards. When this is not the case, we will advise you accordingly.
• To give you choice and involvement in the work of Scope, we welcome your feedback, positive or negative. We will seek your views through customer surveys, focus groups, our website and personal contact. Your feedback will help us improve our services.
• In line with Scope's beliefs, we aim, through informed choice, to empower disabled people to achieve their own potential.

How you can help us

When you first make contact with Scope, you will probably speak to our national Helpline.

• Try to explain your concerns and circumstances as concisely as possible.
• Have a pen and paper handy to take down information and phone numbers.
• Remember Scope cannot do everything. We will try to help directly or signpost you to a more specialised agency but sometimes we may have to say no.
• Please try to be polite and make sure you have allowed enough time to make your call and are free of other distractions.

Read a summary of Scope Response Customer Satisfaction Survey 2011.