Residents could be compensated if council services do not meet expectations, under new proposals aimed at improving local government customer service.

The new Redress review will consider how people using council services are treated as consumers, ‘who know their rights if commitments are not kept or services fall short’. The redress could entail compensation, repair or a straightforward apology, a government spokes- person told LocalGov Sister publication, Surveyor.

Communities secretary, Hazel Blears, said: ‘The new challenge for councils is to deliver better community engagement and a real increase in levels of customer satisfaction.’

Matthew Lugg, chair of the County Surveyors’ Society (CSS) engineering committee, welcomed the initiative.

‘Local government needs to put the customer at the heart of everything we do, and there are useful lessons to learn from the private sector on ways of doing this,’ he said.

‘There are times when councils have not carried out roadworks when planned, and trapped somebody’s car in their drive, for example. When things do go wrong, and we’ve put people out, local authorities need to offer something – a bunch of flowers, or a voucher – by way of apology.’

But the Local Government Association warned that councils ‘would not want to be burdened with significant numbers of claims which may be unfounded’.

A spokesperson added: ‘A fair number of councils already run these kinds of direct payback schemes where they think that residents haven’t received the service they should have done.’

The review will report in early 2009.