Reading Football Club is keenly aware of the importance of our role as a focal point of the local community, and we have the best interests of supporters at heart in every aspect of our business.

We continually review all our policies and are committed to providing the best possible service to all supporters. A few examples of our activities are summarised below.

Customer Charter
The club charter is available online here , by contacting the customer service department on customerservice@readingfc.co.uk / 0118 968 1211, or from the Megastore, Sales Centre and Club Reception. In addition a copy of the charter was published in the matchday programme.

The Customer Charter is under constant review and an updated version will be published during the 2007/8 season.

Customer Service
Receiving and responding to supporters' comments are paramount to Reading Football Club in order for the club to focus its attention on areas where supporters feel that it may be required.

We have a dedicated customer service team who can be contacted on customerservice@readingfc.co.uk / 0118 968 1211 with any complaints, queries or general comments.

As stated in our Customer Charter, Reading Football Club's aim is to respond to supporters' complaints within seven working days. During the 2006/7 season the customer service department dealt with 774 complaints, 94% of which were responded to within the charter standards.

A large proportion of these complaints related to the procedure for renewing season tickets for the 2006/7 season, specifically the season ticket direct debit plan which had become a much bigger task following promotion to the Premier League and one that Reading Football Club were unable to fulfil, resulting in complaints from supporters concerning the administration. As a consequence of the feedback a full review of the ticket operations was carried out and new procedures were put into place for the renewal of season tickets, including the introduction of a partnership with specialist finance company Zebra Finance. A new ticket office manager was also appointed in September 2006 to oversee the restructuring of the department.

Service Scan Evaluations have been responsible for carrying out independent quality audits at Reading Football Club over the past two seasons. Service Scan and a team of 15 volunteer supporters are responsible for carrying out a mystery shopper exercise at the stadium on match day. The teams evaluate everything from the welcome they receive from the car park attendant to the standard of cleaning within the toilets. Reports of the findings have been published on the official site. As a result of these exercises a list of recommended actions are produced for the senior management team to consider what action will be taken. If you would like to become a mystery shopper for future exercises, please contact the customer service department on 0118 968 1211 or customerservice@readingfc.co.uk

Consultation
Supporters' Trust At Reading - We have a very strong relationship with STAR (Supporters' Trust At Reading), to the extent that representatives from STAR's board are invited to attend the club's monthly senior management meetings. This allows both parties to identify concerns and opportunities and discuss potential solutions. Each item discussed is published on STAR's website and on notice boards in the concourses at the stadium, demonstrating a high level of transparency and commitment. Members of the playing and coaching staff also attend tri-annual Fans' Forums organised by STAR.

Stadium Expansion - To enable the club's future development, plans have been developed for spectator capacity to be increased from 24,500 to 38,000. As part of the planning process, we requested comments and ideas from supporters to ensure that the development reaches expectations.

A public consultation period took place in October 2006, including a special consultation evening for local community groups, and all resulting comments on the proposals were collated, assessed and presented to Reading Borough Council as part of the planning application. Planning permission has since been granted, but no date has yet been confirmed for the commencement of work.

Part of the intended expansion works will result in a number of supporters having to move seats, which has led to a number of supporters contacting the customer service department to raise their concerns. All comments have been recorded and when the club is certain exactly which seats may be affected by the expansion, all supporters directly concerned will be consulted with.

As a result of feedback from supporters relating to the supply of public transport, a transport questionnaire was distributed. The results showed that certain areas required additional/new services, and the club has added eight new bus services to increase the number of buses available for supporters on match days to 23. The club also participates in a car share scheme - see www.footballcarshare.com for more information.

Communication With Supporters
The club is continually looking at the most effective methods of communicating with supporters, including:
- Comments forms and boxes situated on each concourse.
- The introduction of an online feedback facility to the customer service department via www.readingfc.co.uk
- Telephone queuing statistics for the ticket office being published on www.readingfc.co.uk
- Improved use of the Club's CRM system to ensure supporters only receive relevant communications.

Staff
Stewarding - After reviewing our stewarding operations, the club concluded that there is a need to employ a higher percentage of our own staff. Historically the club employed some 20% of its own safety stewarding staff and 40% of its own 'tango' (response/search staff). 120 additional stewards have recently been recruited and are currently undergoing training. This has taken the percentage to 60% of the normal staffing levels.

The current focus is on developing a new approach to stewarding with the emphasis on being friendlier and more approachable. The club wants to change perceptions of stewards by offering an engaging welcome and work has already begun to look at areas such as the kind of language used and customer service training.

Stewarding briefings can easily become dominated by security issues, so it's important to also encourage the development of human interaction skills.

Ticket Office - Phone calls into the ticket office are recorded for the purpose of staff training. Ticket office staff review their calls by listening to them with a trainer who helps to identify how well they have handled the calls and where their telephone technique could be improved.

The ticket office team undertook a four week training programme in February 2007, led by the sales centre manager and customer service department, and focusing on call handling and customer service. In March 2007, the ticket office staff undertook a FA Premier League service training course provided by Energize Training. This was received positively and the responsiveness and performance of the team was commented on by the facilitator. The sales centre manager and senior customer service advisor also took part in a 'train the trainer' session so that the programme can be rolled out to all new staff. We are grateful to the Premier League for funding these sessions.

Investors In People - Reading Football was studied by Investors In People for the first time in March 2004, when it was found that the Investor In People Standard was being met. A review in March 2007 found that the Standard continues to be met.

Racial Equality
The club welcomes people from all backgrounds and communities, and has and will continue to operate a zero tolerance policy towards any form of discrimination.

We participated in Kick It Out's annual week of action with a series of activities led by our Community department, and striker Leroy Lita has been invited to become an ambassador for the Kick It Out campaign. Since the 2006/7 season the match day programme and the video screen scoreboard has carried a message asking supporters to report poor fan behaviour direct to the Club.

The club is committed to achieving the preliminary level of the Racial Equality Standard for professional football clubs, and hopes to have achieved this before the end of the 2007/8 season. The customer service manager has been given the responsibility of reviewing policies and procedures with regard to racial equality.

There was one report of racial chanting during the 2006/7 season. The perpetrator was ejected from the stadium, arrested and charged by the police, and is currently awaiting trial.

Football In The Community
The club has an extremely active Football in the Community department, employing 11 full-time staff and around 30 part-time coaches.

The department runs a huge range of activities, including:
Soccer Schools - We work at around a dozen different venues in the region to provide fun soccer camps for thousands of local children during the school holidays.
School partnerships - We have developed partnerships with 120 local schools, providing inset days, after-school clubs, assemblies, teacher training and more.
Club partnerships - Working with local junior football clubs to provide coaching for both players and managers.
Social Inclusion - in the summer of 2007 the club appointed a social inclusion officer who will manage a variety of projects aimed at reducing crime and anti-social behaviour within the local community. An example is 'One Aim One Game', a special project to promote racial harmony within the culturally diverse area of Slough.
The Community department also works closely with local agencies such as Thames Valley Police and Berkshire Fire Service, and heavily supports national campaigns such as Kick It Out, Reading Stars and the Prince's Trust.

Disabled
Supporters who require the use of the disabled area must register their details with the customer service department in the first instance. After registration supporters can purchase tickets via the Sales Centre for home games. The Sales Centre were administering the allocation of away tickets, but feedback from supporters suggested that it was unfair to queue on the sales centre phone line for handful of away tickets, as a result the customer service office now administer away ticket requests.

The club currently has 142 wheelchair spaces situated in various positions around the stadium. In the past the Personal Assistant (PA) has occupied the seat directly in front of the wheelchair bay but feedback from disabled supporters suggested that they would prefer their PA to be sat alongside them so for the start of the 2006/7 season changes were made to make this possible.

In addition to the above the club also has 298 seats for ambulant disabled and their PA's

The club is required to provide 71 disabled parking spaces, but demand for these spaces is extremely high so an additional area has been created for disabled parking allowing us to provide parking for a further 54 cars.
Disabled supporters can contact Debbie Gadsby, Senior Customer Service Advisor for details regarding disabled facilities on 0118-968 1211 or email disability@readingfc.co.uk. The clubs disabled policy can be viewed online at readingfc.co.uk

Study Support Centre
Madejski Stadium contains a well-established Study Support Centre that aims to benefit all sectors of the local community. A few examples of activities during the 2006/7 season are:
- 360 children attended a Playing For Success course, each participating in a three hour course, one night per week for six weeks.
- The centre participated in the Premier League's National Journalism competition, with Reading fan Jack Husbands winning the national competition for pupils in Key Stage 3 with a piece prophetically entitled 'Shorey for England.'
- Reading FC worked with local libraries as part of two projects - Premier League Reading Stars and the National Literacy Trust's 'Kick Into Reading' campaign. Pupils from 20 schools attended special storytelling sessions in their local libraries, with a final session for pupils and parents being hosted at the stadium.
- 73 people attended the BBC RaW event at the study centre. Activities were varied: limerick and haiku writing; recalling historic matches; commentating on match highlights and interviewing Graeme Murty and Kevin Dillon. Some of the commentary recorded was broadcast the next day on BBC Radio Berkshire.
- In July 2007 the study centre gained recognition for its work as it achieved Quality In Study Support recognition at emerged level.

Charitable Contributions
More than £100,000 was raised for local charities by the Royal Families, a fund-raising group set up and organised by the players' wives and girlfriends. A series of activities were held throughout the year including a Race Night, Valentine's Ball and Fashion Show, with all proceeds donated to charities such as Berkshire Women's Aid and Parents and Children Together. The Royal Families will continue to raise funds with a new range of events throughout the 2007/8 season.

In addition the club provided charities and other worthwhile causes with 299 signed footballs and 436 signed shirts over the course of the 2006/7 season, while the playing staff made a total of 176 personal appearances at local community events.

In August 2007, at the request of the Premier League, Reading FC played a prominent role in the launch of Creating Chances, a new nationwide campaign to showcase the huge amount of community work carried out by Premier League clubs.

Corporate Social Responsibility
The club is conscious of its responsibilities within the local community and a comprehensive CSR policy is currently being drafted. It will be published during the course of the 2007/8 season.

More Information
If you would like to comment on any aspect of this report, please contact the customer service team.
Jackie Evans, Customer Service Manager, 0118 968 1211 / jevans@readingfc.co.uk