Centrelink annual report 2003 – 04 Contact officer


PROVIDE TRANSPARENT PRICING OPTIONS



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PROVIDE TRANSPARENT PRICING OPTIONS


The development of strategic cost management methodology continued in 2003–04. This work provided the foundation work for the development of a Centrelink Service Offer and Pricing Catalogue.

Following the Government’s endorsement of the Centrelink Funding Model from 1 July 2004, Centrelink is developing a funding model-based costing template. This will provide greater clarity in terms of the costs by output for government initiatives.


SUPPORT THE POLICY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Family Tax Benefit Task Force


Towards the end of 2003 the Government asked Centrelink to look at how the administration of Family Tax Benefit could be streamlined and simplified to reduce the likelihood of overpayments. The CEO wrote to Centrelink staff asking them for feedback. Over 550 staff responded with more than 750 suggestions for improvement. Suggestions included:

  • improved communication with customers with a focus on face to face contact

  • changes to forms and letters

  • Some procedural and system changes.

In response to the suggestions by staff, a joint Centrelink and Department of Family and Community Services Task Force did a substantial amount of work in the first half of 2004 to change claim forms and information products to make information clearer, simpler and easier to understand for customers. For example, the Task Force worked on rolling four information products into a single comprehensive information product, called the ‘What, Why and How of Family Assistance’. Work was also done to improve processes and I&T systems to better target those customers at risk of being overpaid.

Department of Employment and Workplace Relations: The Statement of Expectations


Introduced in 2004, the Statement of Expectations takes a values-based, collaborative approach to the relationship between Centrelink, DEWR, and the Job Network.

With a strong emphasis on the local relationships between the three organisations, the Statement of Expectations plays a key role in providing business intelligence about service delivery, policy impacts and emerging issues. It also provides a framework for improving and enhancing the future business of each organisation.

Drafted following extensive consultation with Job Network members, the National Employment Services Association (as the peak body of Australian employment organisations), DEWR and Centrelink, the Statement of Expectations ensures staff from all organisations understand how they need to work together to achieve the best outcomes for Australian job seekers.

Essentially, the statement is about Centrelink, the Job Network and DEWR working in partnership towards common goals, and has been designed to influence behaviour at all levels, from frontline staff to senior executives.

The Statement of Expectations is made up of three components, each of which plays an important role in identifying and defining the main areas of focus—the Statement itself, the Charter, and the Operating Principles.

The Statement


‘Working together with job seekers to meet their individual needs in finding the right pathway to achieve sustainable employment.’

The Statement provides the high level focus of how Centrelink, the Job Network and DEWR will work together in both meeting our respective business needs and interacting with our mutual customers. Overall, the Statement helps to explain our overarching and shared responsibilities to Australian job seekers.


The Charter


  • ‘We will keep the job seeker as our focus, engage them in a timely manner, we will be non-judgmental and provide appropriate services.’

  • ‘We will jointly listen to job seekers and our other stakeholders; we will improve our own practices, and feedback information to government.’

The Charter gives us the focus we need in our day-to-day business with job seekers and each other, and helps form the foundations for future business delivery.

The Operating Principles


  • ‘We will seek to understand and explain what we are each responsible for, our business models, our drivers, and why we do the things the way we do.’

  • ‘We will be accessible, open and honest in our communication and bring contentious issues to each other in the first instance.’

  • ‘We will focus on solving problems, getting processes right, looking for innovative solutions, being proactive, planning for contingencies, and valuing different approaches to ensure consistent outcomes.’

The Operating Principles describe the values that underpin the Statement of Expectations and the charter. In addition to helping guide decisions and actions, the Operating Principles outline the values that need to drive our behaviour in dealing with each other and have been designed to build team spirit and foster a collaborative working relationship into the future.

OUR BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS

CHAPTER FOUR

OUR BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS

GOAL


To work closely with the business and community sectors to achieve positive outcomes for Australians.

TOP-LEVEL RESULT


Community sector satisfaction with Centrelink.

TARGET

71%

RESULT

71%

FIGURE 7: COMMUNITY SECTOR SATISFACTION SURVEY—SATISFACTION WITH WORKING

RELATIONSHIP WITH CENTRELINK

HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2003–04


  • developed a strategic framework for staff defining the expectations and the importance to Centrelink of its role in the community (see page 87)

  • continued to improve working relationships with local community organisations to improve the delivery of Centrelink services to shared customers (see page 89)

  • continued to enhance Centrelink’s connection with businesses and other third party organisations (see page 102)

  • Continued strong commitment by members of Centrelink’s Community Reference Groups to assist Centrelink in improving its service delivery (see page 89).

DESCRIPTION


Increasingly, Centrelink’s role has been changing to one that helps customers to participate and to engage more productively. This includes customers participating in the labour market and in their communities, and achieving greater independence and better long-term outcomes for themselves and their families.

Cooperation and working with others in the community is essential to ensuring that Centrelink’s services are delivered in ways that respond to people’s needs (particularly those who have difficulty accessing services), and to community issues and trends.

This has meant recognising the vital role that communities and other sectors can play in working with Centrelink to find new ways of ensuring our customers get the best possible assistance available.

Our customers have told us access to and integration of services is important to them.This includes both Centrelink and other service providers. Customers have also told us that they want Centrelink staff to work with customers and the community to achieve positive outcomes and that Centrelink should align its future servicing arrangements with their expectations and preferences. The strategies in this chapter respond to our customers’ expectations to improve access and integration of service and Centrelink’s capacity to work with customers and the community to achieve positive outcomes.


KEY STRATEGIES


  • manage referral processes effectively (page 85)

  • actively engage with the business and community sectors (page 87)

  • improve the effectiveness of our interactions with business (page 97)

  • improve our image in the community (page 99)

  • enable transactions involving third parties to be carried out effectively (page 102).

Our business and community relationships


Centrelink helps customers move towards greater participation and links them back to their communities, but it cannot do this on its own. There are many community organisations who have different work to Centrelink, but who have a common goal, which is to improve the life opportunities of the same groups of people, especially those who are isolated because of social and economic disadvantage.

These community organisations have expertise that complements Centrelink’s work.They also understand the needs and barriers faced by customers and their communities.Therefore, it makes good sense that local Centrelink Offices develop good working relationships with these organisations and the community, so that issues affecting individuals can be addressed in appropriate and integrated ways.

Cooperative relationships and partnerships are a strategic priority for Centrelink—locally, at the regional and state levels, and nationally). Strong partnerships:


  • provide an opportunity for improved access to Centrelink and better links with other services

  • ensure that Centrelink is friendly, accessible and responsive to the needs of individuals, families, and the communities they live in

  • assist customers to engage more in community life and in the labour market, and to achieve a greater independence and better long-term outcomes for themselves and their families.

Over the past year, Centrelink focused on developing better working relationships within communities to deliver those services that customers need and want.

Centrelink’s role in local communities, and its commitment to working closely with them to help customers, has seen a wide range of activities and relationships developed at the national, state, area, regional and local levels with community organisations; with the business sector; within communities; and with other levels of government. These can involve Centrelink staff volunteering their time and skills as individuals to support the communities they live in, and through to local outreach arrangements for customers, often involving community partners.

In collaboration with community and other organisations, Centrelink also continues to look for ways to better tailor our services so they are more convenient for customers.

At the local level across Australian communities, Centrelink managers and their teams also build and maintain contacts with employers, business and industry to ensure that Centrelink is seen as friendly, accessible and responsive to their needs.

The information and support provided by the business sector, in particular, is critical and Centrelink will continue to rely heavily on their cooperation. At the same time, Centrelink recognises the competing priorities faced daily in running a business and it is important that it becomes easier for them to do business with us.

Centrelink also listens to ideas for improving services at the national level, such as how best to increase cooperation and links with other service providers and the business sector.




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