External Complaints - Child Support investigations 277-17091400

The ExCCS team is responsible for managing all externally escalated complaints relating to Child Support service delivery. This includes complaints via:

• The Minister, CEO and Senior Executive Staff of Child Support Smart Centres
• The Prime Minister and Members of Parliament, state and federal
• The Commonwealth Ombudsman

The ExCCS team is also responsible for the investigation of media briefs and executive minutes involving highly escalated and sensitive issues and the identification and resolution of systemic issues that affect quality outcomes for customers.

The Australian Public Service (APS) is apolitical, performing its function in an impartial and professional manner. Child Support staff must remember that when dealing with Parliamentarians, Senators, the Ombudsman or their staff they are an apolitical public servant representing the agency. Any conflict of interest, real or apparent, should be avoided. Staff must be aware of the APS Code of Conduct at all times.

Note: any concerns about potential conflict of interest should be discussed with the ExCCS Service Support Manager.

The Resources page contains links to the APS Code of Conduct and conflict of interest information for staff.

Correspondence is received by the ExCCS team in various ways. The ExCCS Program Support Officer (PSO) scrutinises, records and allocates the communication as per the ExCCS allocation principles.

All correspondence received by the Minister’s office is emailed to:

• Ministerial Services Team (MST), or
• APH mailbox
• The MST receives correspondence from the
• Prime Minister’s office
• CEO
• Parliamentarians who write directly to the Minister, or
• other agencies/departments, such as the Department of Social Services

MST registers the correspondence onto the Parliamentary Document Management System (PDMS) with the exception of Executive Correspondence which is registered by the ExCCS PSO. This process generates a Parliamentary Document Record (PDR). PDMS is used to create, store and manage the workflow of parliamentary documents between the agency and the Minister’s office.

Customers sometimes email their complaint directly to Services Australia SES Officer. These complaints are managed as Executive correspondence and responses are signed by the Multicultural and Tailored Services Branch National Manager. All Executive correspondence is also recorded on PDMS.

Ombudsman Relationship Management Services (ORMS) is responsible for coordinating timely responses to the Ombudsman’s office. All enquiries from the Ombudsman containing Child Support-related issues are received by ORMS and forwarded to either:

• ExCCS team - only Child Support related issues, ORMS sends section 7A (preliminary investigation), section 8 enquiries (initial and further requests for information), section 12(4) Finalisation Notice with comments and clearance requests to the APH mailbox for allocation
• External Complaints Resolution (ECR) team - both Centrelink and Child Support related issues, ORMS sends the Child Support component to the ECR mailbox and they forward to the APH mailbox for allocation

The ExCCS team also manages Ombudsman complaint transfers (OCT). OCTs are sent from the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman when the Ombudsman's Investigation Officer (IO) identifies they will not proceed with an investigation but would like the agency to assist the customer. OCTs are received and forwarded to the ExCCS APH mailbox for allocation.

The Child Support Programme Advice team sends email requests to the ExCCS mailbox when ExCCS are required to prepare a Waiver Brief for a customer. The email will include a copy of the Waiver Application and outline the actions required by the ExCCS Service Officer, for example, specific investigations required, identify any systemic issues, outline any avenues for redress.

ExCCS PSO will allocate the Waiver Brief to an ExCCS Service Officer as per the allocation principles. The email will outline the due date.

ExCCS Service Officer - Complete Waiver Investigation Brief Macro

See the table titled Customer Review - Investigate case in Waivers for Child Support customers.

These are received via the APH mailbox. Any Child Support matters are referred to the ExCCS Service Support Manager (SSM) in WA team, or in the absence of this officer to an ExCCS SSM in another team.

The ExCCS SSM will determine how to manage the correspondence. They will communicate with the ExCCS PSO about further action required.

ExCCS correspondence is scrutinised by the ExCCS Program Support Officer before allocation to the appropriate ExCCS Service Officer for the following reasons:

• To ensure the correspondence is best responded to by ExCCS
• To identify if the complainant is a customer and obtain details from Cuba for allocation, for example their child support reference number, case manager details and complaint history
• To identify and escalate risk of self-harm and harm to others
• To identify and refer media threats for investigation

Risk of harm and/or threats to escalate to the media

The ExCCS Program Support Officer supported by the ExCCS Program Manager if required, identifies any threats contained in the complaint correspondence. Any threats received during subsequent conversations between complainant and the ExCCS Service Officer are managed by the ExCCS Service Officer allocated to manage the complaint.

Privacy incidents and allegations of staff fraud

If any part of the complaint relates to an alleged privacy incident and the incident has not been reported the ExCCS Service Officer will notify the Privacy team. The Privacy team will liaise with the business area where the privacy incident originated to investigate and manage the incident. However, if the originating area cannot be identified the ExCCS Service Officer will manage the privacy incident to conclusion

Failure to report a privacy incident in a timely manner can result in serious consequences. Timely action can reduce the risk of physical harm to customers or other negative consequences.

Allegations of staff fraud are discussed between the ExCCS Service Officer and their Service Support Manager to determine how they will be managed.

Allocation is performed by ExCCS PSO. The ExCCS PSO allocates nationally in accordance with individual Service Officer's and ExCCS team’s current workload.

It is the ExCCS SSM's responsibility to review outstanding activity required when ExCCS Service Officers are absent and ensure that commitments and timeframes are still met. ExCCS SSMs notify the ExCCS mailbox when allocations should cease for a particular officer, due to leave, full workload etc.