Centrelink annual report 2003 – 04 Contact officer
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- Customer Account project achievements
- Student notification of employment income
- Customer Reference Number business cards for the visually impaired
- Alternative Formats service
- FIGURE 11: SUCCESSFUL CALLS TO CALL CENTRES
- FIGURE 12: AVERAGE CALL HANDLE TIME
- FIGURE 13: AVERAGE SPEED OF ANSWER
- Student Claim Liaison Team—Port Macquarie Call
- Service delivery enhancements to Child Care Benefit
- Child Support Agency/Centrelink Call transfer trial
- Customers from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds
- Understanding our multicultural customers
- Centrelink Multilingual Call
- Communication strategies in languages other than English
- Remote Area Service Centres
- Centrelink Agent and Access Points
IMPROVE CUSTOMER ACCESSCustomer Account projectThe Customer Account project is designed to deliver of a range of functions that make it easier for customers to do business with Centrelink by simplifying and standardising the interaction and management of customer data. The Customer Account Project:
The Account Statement is due for release in March 2005 to Reporting and Income Statement (RIS) customers (approximately 260 000 customers). Further releases will extend to other customer groups which is expected to give customers periodic information about their payments, declared earnings, income and assets, debts, and other Centrelink related information.
Customer Account project achievementsSince the Customer Account Project began in November 2001, a number of milestones have been reached in relation to the three major components. Customer Account milestones
Customer Account OnlineFrom December 2003 to June 2004, a range of online services was introduced for individual customers, including the ability to request a Family Tax Benefit Advance Payment and access to a customer’s Centrelink details via a secure website. Student notification of employment incomeImplemented in June 2004, this initiative involves removing the current method of reporting for students. Previously, students who were in full-time study and part-time work had to fill out a form with their income details every fortnight, and lodge these with Centrelink. Under the new arrangements, students no longer get a form each fortnight. Instead they receive a Reporting Income Statement every 12 weeks, which contains study, income and payment details and provides a new range of options to report income. Now customers can report employment income fortnightly by:
This initiative gives students flexible times and places to report their income. Making reporting easier for students will help them fulfil their obligations to Centrelink and reduce the risk of debts occurring. Rural Call CentresCentrelink has two Rural Call Centres, which were funded by government in the 1999 Budget. These are located in Maryborough (Queensland) and Port Augusta (South Australia). They provide information and advice on Centrelink services to many rural and regional customers as well as employment for local people in rural communities. In 2003–04, Rural Call continued to achieve very high standards of customer satisfaction, averaging around 88 per cent overall satisfaction with the quality of people, services and information they provide. During the year, the Rural Call Centres played a vital role in effectively delivering the Sugar Industry Reform Program, the Drought Assistance Package and the Farm Help Program.
The business cards are plastic, credit card style cards that have the customer’s name and customer reference number in large font and in Braille. This effectively eliminates the need for customers to ask for help from a sighted person when accessing Centrelink self-service options. A first for Australia, the hard plastic cards produced with Braille numbers represent a small but significant step in providing better services for blind and visually impaired customers.
In March 2004, this service was extended to customers receiving Age Pension (Blind). Since then, the number of customers choosing to have their letters delivered in an alternative format has almost doubled. Centrelink has had positive feedback from the blind community on this initiative. Call Centre accessIn 2003–04, Centrelink Call Centres successfully handled around 28.01 million calls, up from 25.62 million calls in 2002–03. Around 21.9 million callers spoke with a Customer Service Officer, with an overall customer satisfaction rating of 88 per cent for 2003–04. FIGURE 11: SUCCESSFUL CALLS TO CALL CENTRESThe average length of calls remained consistently at around 521 seconds during the year, a reduction of over two per cent on 2002–03 figures. This is a return to 2001–02 results and reverses a three-year trend of increasing average handle time. FIGURE 12: AVERAGE CALL HANDLE TIMECall Centre wait times are one of the primary drivers of customer satisfaction with the quality of Centrelink’s phone service. In 2003–04, the average speed of answer time decreased by over 20 per cent to 115 seconds, down from 144 seconds in 2002–03.This result continues to show improved access, with 2003–04 results remaining well within Centrelink’s target of 210 seconds. Centrelink Call is currently embracing the change to a service level methodology of call operations and revising downwards the previous set target of 210 seconds. This will provide considerable benefits to customers through access and provide a platform to ensure community and client agency expectations are better managed. FIGURE 13: AVERAGE SPEED OF ANSWERWorking Credit implementationPart of the Australians Working Together measures, Working Credit was introduced in September 2003 (see page 64). The ongoing requirement for customers to report earnings each fortnight is primarily managed via the phone. The Natural Language Speech Recognition (NLSR) application means customers can fulfil their reporting requirements over the phone, without the need to speak directly to a Customer Service Officer. This sophisticated product then repeats the information to customers so they can confirm or alter the information before they hang up. Since September 2003, the use of NLSR has steadily increased from 16 000 customers per fortnight to over 100 000 customers per fortnight by June 2004.
Team members were ‘assigned’ a group of Student Service Centres and liaised regularly with their contacts in these Centres. This initiative helped to build strong relationships between the Liaison Team and the Student Service Centres. The Student Claim Liaison Team completed 15 677 ‘contacts’ issued from the Call Centre network. As a result of the Team’s efforts, 861 customers were fast-tracked because of financial hardship, 364 calls were transferred directly to the Student Service Centre, and 3120 customer records were actioned. Because of the success of this initiative, a similar strategy is being considered for the peak processing period in 2005. Access for familiesChild care onlineCentrelink is involved in the development of online servicing options for delivering Child Care Benefit (CCB) to child care providers and CCB customers. Developing online servicing will occur in stages over the next three years, and will involve extensive consultation with the child care industry during the design and implementation phases. Online services will better align Centrelink services to child care provider business cycles and reduce administrative effort. This will give providers more time to focus on their primary role—caring for children. Child care customers will also Benefit from greater access to their Centrelink information. Service delivery enhancements to Child Care BenefitAs part of Centrelink’s continuing commitment to maintain and improve services to child care providers, two extra child care provider ‘queues’ were brought online at Moorabbin and Brisbane Call Centres in August 2003. This brings to four the number of Call Centres—including Tweed Heads and Launceston Call—that have dedicated staff on the 1800 050 021 line which service providers use for CCB queries. Another positive development was the transition of the fortnightly Child Care Provider Statement (introduced in May 2003) to weekly statements in December 2003. This was a rapid response to child care industry feedback and meant Centrelink could provide even more timely advice to services of customers’ CCB assessment changes. The Centrelink Call network has also proposed implementing an additional Interactive Voice Recognition option dedicated to CCB enquiries on the Family Assistance Office line (13 6150). This will put customers in touch with Call Centre staff who have specialist training in CCB issues. It will also assist in forward planning by better tracking call trends.The Interactive Voice Recognition option is set to come on stream early to mid 2004–05.
Family business onlineA new way for customers to apply for an advance payment of their Family Tax Benefit (FTB) was introduced in December 2003. The new process means that customers can go online to:
Further changes were made to the family income estimate service so that, if a customer is identified with a potential overpayment, they will get to see the amount of that overpayment. They can then choose to have their ongoing payments adjusted to reduce the chance of being overpaid. Customers are now also able to see a history of the family income estimates that were provided during the current and previous financial years. A new telephone service will also be introduced in 2004 to allow customers to update their family income estimate. This service will assist in managing inbound traffic to Call Centres, especially in peak periods around June and July each year.
e-Business for families having a babyFrom December 2003 to February 2004, Centrelink trialed the electronic transfer of birth notification data from the Launceston General Hospital to the Mowbray Family Assistance Office. The information was used to streamline the process for claiming family assistance payments. Customer reaction was positive and the trial provided valuable feedback to assist in further developing streamlined business processes and technology solutions. The trial was also supported by a Tasmanian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages initiative, which tested streamlined processes for registering babies’ births.
Running from March to May 2004, the trial took place in Victoria and Tasmania. Customer feedback was very positive, and a full evaluation of the trial will be completed in 2004–05. Multicultural accessCustomers from diverse cultural and linguistic backgroundsThe term ‘diverse cultural and linguistic background’ (DCALB) is used to describe people born in countries other than the ‘main English speaking countries’ grouping of the Australian Standard Classification of Countries for Social Statistics. That is, all countries with the exception of Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States of America. To assess the impact of new initiatives on customers from a DCALB and to better target areas of need identified in the community, Centrelink’s Multicultural Services Business Team has compiled profiles for each of its major customer groups. Centrelink’s customers from a DCALB represent approximately 18 per cent of the total Centrelink customer population. The top four countries of birth of customers from a DCALB are Italy, Vietnam, China and Greece. Customers from DCALBs are represented in all customer groups in the following percentages:
Understanding our multicultural customersTo improve service delivery and outcomes, over the past year Centrelink undertook a number of projects to gain better knowledge and data about customers from DCALBs. Highlights include:
Centrelink Multilingual CallCentrelink Multilingual Call (CMC) is a National Call Centre in Liverpool NSW. It offers direct language services to customers in 22 language queues and 19 other languages on a ‘call-back’ basis. CMC also engage interpreters for all other languages not available at the Centre. CMC staff also provide interpreting services at pre-booked face-to-face interviews between Centrelink and customers. By opting to use the services of its own staff and contracted interpreters, Centrelink reduces reliance on ‘TIS’—the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs’ user pays interpreting service. This significantly reduces spending on interpreting services, yet still maintains high quality services. On average, 45 000 calls are received by CMC each month. The average waiting time to speak to a bilingual Officer is around 100 seconds. During 2003–04, CMC call traffic increased by about nine per cent on 2002–03. In making outbound calls, CMC also plays a key role in strategies that aim to educate customers about their obligations and any upcoming initiatives. For example, before the Working Credit initiative was introduced, CMC made calls to over 500 customers from DCALBs (see also ‘Communication strategy in languages other than English’ on page 150). During the implementation fortnight contact was made with another 420 customers. Communication strategies in languages other than EnglishAs part of its strategies to communicate effectively with people from DCALBs, Centrelink offers extensive services and products in languages other than English, including:
Based on research undertaken by Centrelink in 2002–03 into the effectiveness of its communication with customers from DCALBs, Centrelink is delivering more targeted communication strategies with a focus on customer groups from new and emerging communities as well as people affected by new government and Centrelink initiatives— for example, Australians Working Together, and debt and breaching prevention. Successful introduction of the Working Credit in September 2003 was also supported by an extensive multicultural communication strategy that included:
Language servicesCentrelink operates its own in-house language services program, which provides on-site and phone interpreters to assist Centrelink staff to communicate effectively with non-English speaking customers. During 2003–04, over 85 000 interpreting services were provided to assist customers with their appointments in Centrelink Customer Service Centres. Sessional interpreter services in over 30 languages for an average of 2260 hours per week were provided in 70 Customer Service Centres where the demand for language assistance was high. Centrelink Language Services provided interpreting services to Job Network members Australia-wide to support them in developing job seeker profiles. The Language Service Unit also assisted over 2800 Job Network customers with an interpreter. Some interpreter assistance was provided via phone interpreters. This was mainly for shorter appointments in rural regional and remote areas, or in less commonly spoken languages. Approximately 22 000 interviews were conducted by phone, and these included customers with problems requiring urgent attention. Centrelink has centralised interpreter bookings and interpreter contract procurement processes in the Language Service Unit in Sydney (excluding those in Western Australia.) This has achieved operational efficiencies and better management of interpreter procurement, and improved booking and supply processes. The Unit also provides translation services nationally. In 2003–04, the Unit assisted with translating 3000 customer personal documents to help customers access Centrelink payments and services.
The first RASC opened in Laverton (Western Australia) in March 2003. In 2003–04, this was followed by RASCs in Yarrabah (Queensland) and Halls Creek (Northern Territory). In 2004–05, RASCs will also open in Newman, Western Australia, Nguiu in the Tiwi Islands (Northern Territory) and Weipa (Queensland). RASCs have a strong focus on participation and offering opportunities for individual and community capacity building. They are small Offices, located in remote communities or townships, that service and support local communities and the surrounding areas and out-stations. RASCs connect with the Centrelink Agent network to offer integrated service delivery. Effectively, RASCs act as ‘hubs’ that give Indigenous Australians better access to the full range of Centrelink’s services. Personal Advisers in RASCs provide face-to-face assessment and referral services for Indigenous customers. Personal Advisers also develop participation plans with customers to identify participation goals and address barriers that could complicate the achievement of those goals. RASCs also give Centrelink opportunities to create better links with existing government and non-government services in local areas, such as Job Network members, CRS Australia, and literacy and numeracy service providers.
The Centrelink Indigenous Services Team was allocated $8.2 million over four years in the 2002–03 Budget to expand this network. This funding is to implement and maintain new Centrelink Agent sites in 50 Indigenous communities. In 2003–04, 25 sites were selected and established, with another 25 sites scheduled for establishment by July 2005. Partnership projectsIn the past financial year, Social Workers servicing the Darwin area have focused on increasing community access to the services delivered by Centrelink. Social Workers set out to identify and help individuals who may be eligible for assistance, but have not been receiving support. Through the development of community partnerships, the project has trialed approaches to deliver government, community and other support services to people who are disadvantaged or are unable to visit a Customer Service Centre. Social work visiting services have established relationships with individuals in corrective institutions, psychiatric wards, shelters, schools, sole parents groups and even antenatal classes. During the visits, Social Workers provide information on a range of payments and services within Centrelink. The Social Workers also assist to link individuals and families with other services within the Community. Called Partnership Projects, this initiative has strengthened Centrelink’s relationships with other community groups, support workers and government agencies, while providing a better service to people who might not have otherwise accessed support services. TAFE OutreachCentrelink Stones Corner established a partnership with Southbank TAFE to conduct a weekly visiting service focusing on the Adult Migrant Education Program and the Language, Literacy and Numeracy Program. The service is to help newly arrived refugees and students studying at the TAFE to access support from Centrelink during their early stages of settlement. The weekly visiting services mean that students do not have to skip classes to attend an appointment at a Customer Service Centre. Instead Customer Service Officers can interview students on-site at the TAFE and deal with issues such as people’s payment eligibility and their customer obligations. The service is working well with local Multicultural Service Officers working with teachers and students to deal with language and cultural barriers—and in some cases, posttraumatic stress disorder—that can disadvantage students when it comes to claiming the right payments, preparing work agreements, accessing the Job Network, and so on. Other positive outcomes include less class absenteeism and fewer drop-outs, more cost-effective use of Centrelink interpreter services, and a reduction in the need for face-to-face contact in Centrelink Offices. SmartravellerThe Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) produces travel advisories for Australians to keep them well informed and prepared for travel overseas, and to help them avoid dangers and difficulties when travelling. The department provides up-to-date information about security situations in other countries, visa requirements, health and medical issues, cultural or religious differences. While travel advice is always available on the Internet, DFAT approached Centrelink to provide a phone service giving access to the above information. The service was established within 10 days of DFAT’s initial approach by using a combination of automation techniques and ‘voice recognition’ software to manage the majority of calls. Voice recognition software is used to identify which country the customer wants information about, then ‘text to speech’ technology is utilised to capture the relevant information on the DFAT website and convert it to a phone message. The service operates within the call centre currently providing the Australian Passport Information Service to DFAT. Since the service began in September 2003, around 28 000 calls were handled automatically and 4600 callers were assisted by operators. Directory: sites -> default -> files -> documents documents -> North Mankato Taylor Library documents -> In the Red and Brown Water documents -> - documents -> Cbp and Trade Automated Interface Requirements Appendix: pga december 22, 2015 documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Mobile audio/video recording systems documents -> The south australian government gazette documents -> All public acts appearing in this gazette are to be considered official, and obeyed as such documents -> Union interparlementaire inter-parliamentary union Download 1.21 Mb. Share with your friends:
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