The team behind some of Bath’s top heritage attractions has been awarded a prestigious accolade for Customer Service Excellence after scoring a magnificent seven commendations for “Best Practice”.
The two-day assessment covered all of Heritage Services’ operations – including The Roman Baths and Pump Room, The Fashion Museum and Assembly Rooms, The Victoria Art Gallery and The Bath Record Office.
The Customer Service Excellence Standard is given by the Government as a reward for demonstrating excellent customer-focused standards. It was awarded to the Council’s Heritage Services Team following rigorous assessment checks.
Councillor Cherry Beath (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “The Customer Service Excellence Standard has 57 elements in total and Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Heritage Services Team is fully compliant in all of them. Last year three elements were awarded “compliance plus” for achieving best practice and this year the team more than doubled that with seven commendations.
“It’s a remarkable achievement to retain this national award by surpassing our previous performance. This could not have happened without the hard work and dedication of everyone at our unique heritage attractions.”
The official inspection was carried out by Customer Service Excellence assessor Ken Smith on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 October. Mr Smith commented on the team gaining seven commendations as being an exceptional achievement; making it the “jewel in the crown” of all the services that he had assessed.
In his report, Mr Smith said: “There is strong evidence of systematic improvement again this year with a continuing emphasis on providing services that are customer focused and well managed. You have clearly demonstrated that you continue to deliver an excellent standard of service to your customers and are worthy of re-accreditation to the Customer Service Excellence Standard.
“Particular attention has been paid over recent years to making the Service’s visitor attractions more accessible and family-friendly. There is a continuing commitment to putting customers at the heart of service delivery and appropriate policies, procedures and practices are in place to support the right of all customers to expect excellent levels of service. These values are demonstrated on a day to day basis through the behaviours of staff and leaders.
“The results of your mystery shopping exercises, independent assessments carried out under the Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Scheme, feedback from customers and observations carried out by the assessor during the visit, clearly demonstrate that staff are friendly and polite to customers and have an understanding of their needs.”
“The improvements made to the access arrangements at The Roman Baths for disabled people have been recognised by Able Radio, the online radio station for the special needs community, for what it described as ‘phenomenal work done to make the site more accessible for all’.”
For more information about Bath & North East Somerset Council’s heritage attractions visit http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/heritage or call The Roman Baths on 01225 477774, The Fashion Museum on 01225 477789, The Victoria Art Gallery on 01225 477233 and The Bath Record Office on 01225 477421.
