Customer care

We'll ensure the following standards of service are met, to the best of our ability.

Our customers

• We provide clear and concise guidance notes on what each of our activities offer, and details about who, how and when they fund. Guidance notes will be available in different formats.
• We answer telephone, email and letter communications promptly and efficiently.
• We strive to ensure our customers are satisfied with their experience with NESTA.
• We publish an annual report of our activities, including our financial statement and our customer care provision.
• We aim to make our website accessible.

Applicants

• We handle the ideas of applicants confidentially.
• We process applications in accordance with procedures in the relevant guidance notes.
• We strive to provide clear feedback and signposting, where our support is not appropriate.
• All full applicants will be given a named contact.

Recipients

• We aim to provide appropriate assistance and support to all our recipients, within the constraints of resources.
• We ensure all recipients trust us to handle their ideas and projects confidentially.
• All recipients will be given a named contact. If the contact changes at any time during the life of the funding or investment, we will inform you as soon as we can.
• We provide information about the type, content, scale and frequency of post-funding monitoring and evaluation, which is carried out for successful applications.
• We provide payments and services promptly, according to agreed schedules.
• We respond quickly and considerately to requests for variation of the agreed level of support.
• We explore ways to help our recipients beyond the time period of their award.

Suppliers, partners and associates

• Our contracting procedures are explained to potential external suppliers and based on our Financial Policy and Procedures Manual.
• We provide clear guidelines to our mentors, consultants, assessors and other suppliers about what is expected from them.
• We provide clear terms of payment in advance.
• We make payments promptly, according to agreed schedules.

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Social inclusion

We take our obligations seriously when it comes to social inclusion. It is essential to the delivery of our remit that we identify talent wherever it lies. We want to be sure that people with a good idea, regardless of their background, can access our support. We also want to support projects that will support those people who are currently most excluded, and enable them to develop their full personal, social and economic potential through science, technology and the arts.

To achieve this, we will:

• ensure people from all sections of society have an equal opportunity to access our support;
• support more projects aimed at raising the aspirations of young people from potentially socially-excluded sections of society;
• continue to invest in small businesses across the UK, providing finance for ideas that would otherwise fail to get off the ground;
• make sure the lessons we learn from supporting the creative development of socially-excluded people are fed back to Government, to help in the development of policy.