Customer Service Charter - Bona Vacantia Division - Estates Group

We have developed this strategy to provide an outline of our commitment to give an efficient high quality professional service to all those we do business with.

We will work efficiently to :-

• Respond to you
• New matters - 5 working days of the case being received and logged onto our system
• Standard matters - 20 working days from receipt, if exceptionally we cannot reply to your communication within the time scales set out below we will send you a holding reply explaining why we cannot give a full reply and when we anticipate being able to do so.
• Telephone messages - within 24 hours
• Be polite, easy to talk to and sensitive to your needs
• Where appropriate or where requested to do so keep you informed of our progress
• Maintain confidentiality within the terms of the law
• Be efficient, effective and fair in all our dealings
• Deal with any complaint you may have in accordance with our complaints procedure as detailed on our website.

In return we ask you to:-

• Provide us with the information that we are asking for within a reasonable time.
• Remember that each of our case officers deal with many cases at one time and it would be helpful if you could quote the name of the deceased and our reference number when you contact us. This will enable us to find our case papers quickly.
• Appreciate that we cannot provide you with legal advice. We can tell you about our policy and procedures but if you need legal advice you will need to consult your own solicitor or local Citizens Advice Centre.
• Understand that our enquiries into the size of a deceased's persons estate, for a will and surviving entitled blood relatives take time to complete so it may be several months or even a year before we can update you on the outcome of these enquiries.

This information is available in large print, audio tape and braille formats.