Service Standards and Quality Commitment

Telephone advice

Gingerbread is a registered, independent charity. Our Single Parent Helpline and advice service hold the Telephone Helplines’ Association Parenting Quality Standard.

Opening hours

Gingerbread Single Parent Helpline

Monday to Friday: 9am-5pm
Wednesday lines open 9am-8pm.

Gingerbread advice service

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 10am-4pm
Wednesday, 10am-1pm, 5pm-8pm

Other helpline services

If you urgently need to speak with someone outside of our Helpline hours, you can call these other helplines:

Parenting issues - Parentline Plus, call free on 0808 800 2222, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Housing issues - Shelterline, call free on 0808 800 4444, 8am to midnight.

Domestic Violence - Domestic Violence Helpline, call free on 0808 2000 247, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Costs

Calls to our helpline and advice service are free from all landlines, and all major mobile newtorks - 3, Orange, Virgin, Vodafone, T-Mobile or O2

Quality Commitment and service standards

There is a statement of Quality Commitment relating to the whole organisation that also applies to the Single Parent Helpline and advice service. This is available on Gingerbread’s website

In addition we have the following service standards:

We aim to respond to as many calls as possible, but are aware that it is not always possible to get through to the Single Parent Helpline and that the queuing for the advice service may mean that some callers find it impossible to wait to speak to an adviser.

Our service is free and we will send information free of charge to single parents contacting our helpline.

The service is confidential. This means that we will not disclose any personal information without the caller’s consent.

The only exception is when we have reasonable cause to believe that a child or other person is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm and in such circumstances we will work within our Confidentiality Policy and procedures and encourage the caller to take steps to protect the child or person concerned.

We will send the information by second class post on the next working day and there will be no indication on the envelope that it has come from Gingerbread.

Our Single Parent Helpline will also provide details of other national and local services that provide advice, information and support with the aid of our database.

We have a procedure for handling letters from single parents. We aim to respond to an enquiry that requires printed information within two working days. We will endeavour to respond to letters requiring an individual response within three working days and no later than five working days.

We have a complaints procedure for the Single Parent Helpline which we will send to callers who wish to complain.

In addition to any complaints, we welcome any suggestions or ideas on improving the service. Callers may make suggestions to the worker concerned which will be noted or may write to the Head of Helpline and Information.

We will send a feedback questionnaire to every caller who is sent a publication together with a freepost envelope.

We will consult with members of Gingerbread on how we can improve and develop our services.

Gingerbread is registered in England and Wales as the National Council for One Parent Families, a company limited by guarantee, no.402748, and a charity, no.230750. The Gingerbread Single Parent Helpline is currently funded by the Henry Smith Charity, HMRC, the Department for Children, Schools and Families, True Colours Charitable Trust, Manchester City Council and Scottish Power.


Formed from the merger of the National Council for One Parent Families and Gingerbread.	Search:
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