Child Support Strategic Performance Measure 3 (SPM3) quality checking 111-25091506

SPM3 assesses the administrative correctness of payments. The agency is committed to ensuring our processes deliver high quality, correct and reliable payments to customers. This measure:

• focuses on making the right payment, to the right customer, at the right time
• is assessed across several branches in the Customer Service Delivery Group
• is co-ordinated by the Digital, Analytics, Messaging, and Quality branch

SPM3 quality checking reviews finalised applications for an administrative assessment of child support, to determine if the outcome is accurate.

The check is a holistic review of the customer’s application, subsequent customer contact, and staff processing in Cuba and Pluto. This determines if the decision to refuse, withdraw or accept the application was for the correct amount, parties and start date.

A quality checker may observe and provide feedback on errors in:

• customer contact
• documentation, and/or
• processing that does not impact the correctness of the application decision

These will not be considered an error against SPM3.

The current sample size is a minimum of 400 applications per quarter.

Aim for Accuracy provides assurance of the integrity and reliability of quality checking results.

The Quality and Technical Support Service Delivery Support team carry out Aim for Accuracy exercises to re-evaluate end-to-end child support application decisions that have undergone quality checks where errors have been found. Where an error has been recorded incorrectly, steps are taken to correct the evaluation records.

Quality and Aim for Accuracy checkers are responsible for:

• evaluating the application decisions against Operational Blueprint processes and child support legislation
• identifying business improvement opportunities
• recording the results of the evaluation in the system
• not checking their own work
• maintaining privacy and secrecy when handling customer and staff information, in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988
• initiating remedial action where errors are found

The Quality and Technical Support Service Delivery Support team is responsible for:

• arranging access to the CS&TS SPM3 – Payment Quality (New Rego) evaluation form for checkers
• allocating sampled application decisions to the checkers for checking
• ensuring allocated checks are recorded
• assurance of the integrity of the checking process
• ensuring recorded errors are accurate
• ensuring remedial action is followed up