Centrelink annual report 2003 – 04 Contact officer
EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF CUSTOMER CONTACT
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EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF CUSTOMER CONTACTService recoveryIf a customer is not completely satisfied with the service they receive from Centrelink, a number of service recovery options are available to them. Ministerial correspondenceIn 2003–04, Centrelink handled 3656 items of ministerial correspondence, an increase of 24.4 per cent compared with 2002–03. The Business Partnership Agreement with FaCS requires Centrelink to finalise 90 per cent of all cases within 13 working days, including making contact with the customer to ensure all issues have been fully addressed. Table 27 compares the 2002–03 outcomes to 2003–04. TABLE 27: MINISTERIAL REPRESENTATIONS FINALISED
These figures represent correspondence to the Minister or Parliamentary Secretary about issues relating to Centrelink. The total number of priority correspondence responses recorded and handled by Centrelink’s Ministerial Correspondence Team for 2003–04 was 4663. A productive working relationship and regular discussions with the Minister’s staff have helped to improve workflow procedures and meant consistent achievement of performance standards. Customer Relations UnitsCentrelink’s Customer Relations Units (CRUs) are central points for handling customer feedback, and provide a channel through which customers can raise issues and have them resolved. Customer feedback is received as complaints, compliments, suggestions and general information requests. This feedback comes through a number of different channels—mostly by phone, but also online and via ‘Tell Us What You Think’ customer comments cards. Centrelink uses customer feedback to ensure its services better meet customers’ needs and expectations. To achieve this, Centrelink has developed clearer operational objectives and complaint resolution definitions to guide the work of CRUs. In combination with ongoing development of protocols, specific training and outreach packages, this has resulted in more consistent handling of customer feedback. A total of 203 264 customer contacts were recorded in 2003–04, compared with 209 801 in 2002–03. This is a decrease of 5817 contacts, or approximately 3 per cent. Of these contacts, 137 599 were general enquiries. The rest were complaints (39 663), Call Centre Busy contacts (17 399—from approximately 28 million calls handled each year), compliments (5483), tip offs (2230), Intent to Claim contacts (165), and suggestions (725). As a proportion of total complaints, in 2003–04 service related complaints (about the quality of service, for example, delay in payment) outnumbered merit based complaints (relating to correctness or reasonableness of decisions, for example, payment eligibility). The main complaint category related to the merit of a Centrelink assessment or decision. The top five complaint categories by volume of complaints were: (1) disagreement with assessment/decision; (2) delay in payment; (3) delay in decision; (4) staff attitude; (5) no call back. Data on these complaint categories are referred for further analysis within Centrelink and used to plan and implement appropriate service responses. Timeliness of complaints handling continued to be well above performance targets. A three-tier scale based on the complexity of the contact is used to classify contacts, with complaints having to be resolved in 90 per cent of cases within the specified time standard. Tier one contacts must be resolved in one working day, tier two within three working days, and tier three within five working days (see Table 28). TABLE 28: CUSTOMER AND COMMUNITY COMPLAINT OUTCOMES
OmbudsmanA valuable measure of the satisfaction of Centrelink’s customers with the service they receive is the number and type of complaints they make to the Ombudsman’s Office. In 2003–04, the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s Office received 8084 complaints from Centrelink customers regarding 8837 issues. This is a significant reduction of 16.2 per cent on the previous financial year. Of all the issues finalised during the year, 2589 were investigated by the Ombudsman’s Office and 4698 were referred back to Centrelink for investigation. Centrelink maintained regular contact with the Ombudsman’s Office during the year to discuss matters of concern and to strengthen the relationship between the two agencies. This link, and the links between each Commonwealth Ombudsman state/territory Office and their Centrelink CRU, continues to help with timely resolution of customer complaints.
(a) 1714 lodged by customers, 113 by the Secretary of FaCS. (b) 1648 lodged by customers, 221 by the Secretary of FaCS. Timeliness performance targets for AROs are:
Response requirements for SSAT applications for review are:
Similarly, Centrelink must lodge a statement of the findings of fact, referring to the evidence, and reasons for the decision under review, together with a copy of every relevant document, with the AAT within 28 days. Centrelink aims to lodge these documents on or before the 21st day. TABLE 30: MERITS REVIEW TIMELINESS
TABLE 31: MERITS REVIEW OUTCOMES
The decisions most commonly challenged at all stages of merits reviews are the recovery of debts, including Family Tax Benefi t reconciliation debts; refusal of Disability Support Pension as the customer is not medically eligible; the date of commencement and increases in payments; and the refusal of payments during compensation preclusion periods. These matters accounted for 70 per cent of requests for ARO reviews, 73 per cent of SSAT applications and 71 per cent of AAT applications during 2003–04. Court appealsIn consultation with FaCS and AFFA, Centrelink arranges representation when customers exercise their rights to seek review of its decisions in the Courts. In 2003–04, there were 36 customer appeals (33 in 2002–03) and nine Secretary appeals to the Federal Court (five in 2002–03). Over the course of the year, the Federal Court handed down 38 decisions, with 28 favouring the Secretary. (Twenty-five decisions were handed down in 2002–03, of which 23 favoured the Secretary and two favoured the customer). During the 2003–04, five customer appeals were lodged with the Full Federal Court (two appeals were lodged by customers in 2002–03). Over the course of the year, the Full Federal Court handed down three decisions, with two in favour of the Secretary (the same as in the previous financial year). In 2003–04, one special leave application was lodged with the High Court (compared with five in 2002–03). This application will be considered by the Court later this year. The High Court handed down three decisions over the course of the year, with two in favour of the Secretary, and one case was withdrawn/discontinued. All figures in this section incorporate activity for FaCS and AFFA. Holiday processingDuring 2003–04, Centrelink continued with special arrangements to ensure customers were not adversely affected by national public holidays. Arrangements involved ensuring as far as possible that payments were available before or on the customer’s normal pay day. 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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