Our role is to work with others to protect and improve Scotland’s environment and our aim is to be an excellent regulator and an influential and respected authority on the environment.

To help achieve this, we have set out how we will work with you and what you can expect from us.

• Our service charter
• Violence and aggression zero tolerance statement
• Procurement
• Making a complaint

Our Service Charter

We will be:

• Courteous – dealing with you with courtesy and integrity at all times
• Accessible – we will make it easy for you to access our services and information
• Understanding – we will try to understand your business needs so as to appreciate issues from your perspective
• Good partners – we will work with you to help you protect and improve the environment
• Constantly improving – we will regularly review our performance, listening to and learning from you
• Accurate – we will strive to get it right first time and will act promptly
• Good communicators – we will express ourselves simply, clearly and within agreed timescales
• Fair – we will apply the law fairly and consistently and provide a proportionate enforcement response
• Competent – our staff will be well-trained and equipped with the right knowledge and skills
• Secure – we will protect the privileged information we hold
• Expert – we will be an influential and respected source of environmental data and information

We rely on the people of Scotland to engage with us – as customers and partners of SEPA, you too can play your part and help us achieve our aims. Please contact us if we have provided a good service; if we have fallen short of your expectations; or to suggest improvements we should make.

Violence and aggression zero tolerance statement

We are committed to providing a high-quality of service to our customers and stakeholders at all times, and the level of service you can expect from us is stated in our Service Charter.

We understand that in some circumstances our service may not meet with your expectations. However, we take any and all instances of our staff being treated in an abusive or violent way very seriously. We have a zero tolerance approach towards such behaviour whether out in the field, in an office environment or over the phone.

Our statement is as follows:

SEPA has a zero tolerance of any and all acts of violence and aggression towards our staff

The safety and well-being of our people is our number one concern. They have the right to do their jobs without being physically or verbally abused.

If you are aggressive, abusive, or behave violently towards a member of our staff we will take action. This may include reporting to the Police.

Treat our staff courteously; they will do their best to help you.

Thank you.

What we expect from you when having contact with us

• When having direct contact with a member of our staff, don’t threaten or use physical violence, verbal abuse or harassment towards them. Where staff feel threatened, we will report these incidents to the police.
• When speaking to members of staff over the telephone, you should be courteous. If the call handler considers the caller to be aggressive, abusive or offensive, they have the right to end the call if the behaviour persists.
• We expect that any written correspondence, either via email, letter or social media to be courteous and sticks to the matter at hand. We will take action where we receive correspondence that contains abusive, threatening or offensive statements or bad language.

Procurement

SEPA aspires to deliver best practice procurement and contract management which enables good governance, business benefits and value for money.

SEPA openly advertises procurement requirements via the Public Contracts Scotland portal and Find a Tender Service (UK), meeting both domestic and international procurement threshold legislative requirements.

See Class 6: Procurement to access our published procurement information and Standard Terms and Conditions

Making a complaint

If you wish to make a complaint about the service you have received, please contact us.

Please note that the customer service complaints procedure is not used for appeals or objections against regulatory decisions made by SEPA or reports regarding pollution incidents.