North East community leisure trust, Tees Active, has achieved high levels of customer service in a review by independent assessors within the Government’s Customer Service Excellence (CSE) mark.

Customer Service Excellence is a national quality mark that seeks to reward organisations that have a truly customer-focused commitment to all they do while providing a positive steer for customer-centred change.

Following a rigorous three-day assessment in November, Tees Active was recognised for demonstrating ‘real determination to continually provide a quality service to all their customers’. Notable themes such as the Tees Active’s commitment to working in partnership to support ‘hard to reach’ communities and service delivery throughout the Covid pandemic were formally recognised within the report.

In addition, Tees Active was recognised for best practice in 6 ‘Compliance Plus’ areas – awarded where particular strength is demonstrated that exceeds requirements of the standard. Assessors found a number of examples of high standards, including:

• Identifying hard to reach and disadvantaged groups and individuals and developing services in response to their specific needs.
• Ensuring services are easily accessible to all customers through provision of a range of alternative channels.
• Working in partnership to offer and supply co-ordinated services and demonstrating benefits to customers.
• Developing insight about customer groups to better understand their needs and preferences.
• Interacting within wider communities and demonstrating the ways in which we support those communities.
• Discussing with customers the next steps and indicating the overall time to achieve outcomes, where service is not completed at the first point of contact.

Leon Jones, Managing Director of Tees Active, explained: “Our customers have always been at the heart of everything we do, and we are incredibly proud with the outcome of the assessment.

“Despite the challenges of Covid, our teams across the organisation have shown real determination, demonstrating their commitment to ensuring we continued to support some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged residents in our communities. Whilst the pandemic has brought disruption to our services, our role across the Borough to support physical and mental wellbeing has been more important than ever and we are incredibly proud for this to be highlighted within the report.”

CSE accreditation operates on a three-year cycle, starting with a full assessment followed by two annual reviews to ensure standards are maintained.

For more details about Tees Active’s range of activities and services visit www.teesactive.co.uk