Level 2 complaints 104-02040000

A Level 2 complaint is a complaint that cannot be resolved at Level 1 or meets the Complaint Escalation Reasons. All complaints are managed in accordance with the Services Australia Customer Complaints and Feedback Policy.

Level 2 complaints are managed by Complaints Officers who receive complaints via:

• warm phone transfer escalation
• the Customer Feedback Tool as an escalated complaint
• written complaints, including online
• the Parliamentary Document Management System (PDMS)
• internal sources, such as Centrelink Customer Liaison Officers or Digital Media Section
• external agencies, such as the Ombudsman or a Member of Parliament

A customer may use multiple avenues to lodge a complaint about the same or different issues

When a complaint is received it is immediately prioritised and then escalated in specific circumstances.

A Level 2 Complaints Officer uses knowledge and understanding of a subject area to provide services to customers with multiple complex needs or facing significant disadvantage.

A Complaints Officer's role is to investigate, analyse and assess complex, sensitive and contentious customer issues that meet 1 or more of the complaints escalation reasons. Complaints Officers should take a holistic approach and collaborate with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to gather information, resolve customer issues and make referrals.

Complaints Officers are expected to manage complaints from start to finish, exercise both initiative and judgement in the interpretation of policy and in the application of practices and procedures.

A Complaints Officer manages and organises their own work in the context of competing priorities, including contributing to business planning, changes in workplace practices and business improvement strategies.

Complaints officers must uphold and promote the principles of fairness from the Commonwealth Ombudsman's Better Practice Guide to Complaint Handling:

• Impartiality - impartial investigation is vital to the credibility and success of a complaint handling system
• Confidentiality - complainants have a right to expect that their privacy will be respected and their complaint will be investigated in private
• Transparency - a complainant is entitled to know how a complaint will be handled and the outcome of the investigation. Complaints Officers should ensure that:
• at the time of making a complaint, complainants are advised of the steps in the complaint process and expected timeliness standards for handling the complaint
• a contact number is given to each complainant, preferably with the name of a contact person
• a report on progress is provided if a complaint is not resolved promptly, with an explanation for the delay
• the outcome of an investigation is explained and reasons are provided if the evidence presented by the complainant is not accepted
• the complainant is given an opportunity to respond or to seek internal review if they are not satisfied with the decision made about their complaint

The Resources page includes a link to the Commonwealth Ombudsman's Better Practice Guide to Complaint Handling.

Positive Complaint Culture

Complaints Officers are expected to promote a positive and transparent complaint and feedback culture and actively support staff to prioritise complaint resolution and record complaints, compliments and suggestions.

To build and maintain a positive complaint culture, it is essential that Complaints Officers:

• provide business feedback or feedback about behavioural complaints in a timely manner and ensure it is evaluated by managers
• encourage staff and managers to be actively involved in the ongoing review and evaluation of the complaint management process, applying their knowledge, skills and experience to enhance service delivery by escalating potential systemic issues and opportunities for improvement
• promote the value of complaints and encourage people to complain if they are dissatisfied or feel aggrieved. Complaints help improve policies, systems and service delivery
• treat complaints confidentially, and ensure there are no adverse repercussions for a complainant

If a customer making a complaint is aggressive or making threats staff and customer safety is the top priority. Complaints Officers should talk to a manager or team leader, report the incident and access the support that is available to staff and customers. If a customer threatens to harm themselves or another person, respond immediately.

Many customers contact the agency at times when they are vulnerable and in crisis. Support for customers and staff is available:

• Customer aggression
• Customers talking about suicide or self-harm
• Family and Domestic Violence
• referral of customers to a Social Worker
• Escalation Coordination Team, link available on the Resources page

Managing unreasonable complainant behaviour

Unreasonable complainant behaviour is when the complainant displays behaviour that requires more intensive management in order to progress and resolve the complaint. It includes:

• unreasonable persistence
• unreasonable demands
• unreasonable lack of cooperation
• unreasonable arguments
• unreasonable behaviour

Complaints Officers should attempt to take control of interactions with complainants, managing complainant behaviour separately from managing the issue. Complaints Officers must remain calm in response to unreasonable behaviour, be impartial and treat the complainant with fairness and respect. When investigating a complaint it is critical to separate the behaviour from the issue, so that the issue can be effectively addressed without it being clouded by behavioural problems.

Complainants are expected to show respect for and cooperate with Complaints Officers as a prerequisite to further contact and communication. It is important that Complaints Officers set boundaries for the customer including that continued aggression may result in ending a call. The Complaints Officer should advise they are trying to help and details are required to investigate the customer's complaint, but that aggression makes it difficult for the Complaints Officer to get the information required to help the customer.

It is critical that complaints staff show respect for all complainants. Where unreasonable complainant conduct is involved, limiting the complainant's contact with the agency may need to be considered and/or a referral to Personalised Services.

Complaints officers should make it clear to complainants that:

• the agency owns the complaint - the agency decides whether the complaint will be dealt with and if so, who by, how quickly, with what priority, what resources will be given to it and what the outcome will be
• complainants own their issue - they are free to raise it through other available avenues

Compliments, suggestions and complaints provide the agency with a valuable source of information to:

• assess performance
• identify systemic issues
• assist in training, development and support for staff
• recognise the value of good service through staff compliments
• assist in building individual and organisational capability and improvements to customer service
• identify complaint trends impacting on service
• provide evidence of a service or policy affecting customers

After a complaint is finalised the Level 2 Complaints Officer may take additional follow up action such as:

• recording a compliment or suggestion from the customer
• providing feedback to individual staff or business teams
• reporting systemic issues
• escalating a matter to the Media Section, or
• making a report to the Fraud Prevention team

The agency’s Customer Complaints and Feedback Policy states that when appropriate and available, customers and complainants will be communicated with about their complaint or feedback over the phone. However written responses can apply in certain scenarios such as:

• a complaint acknowledgement letter following receipt of an Ombudsman warm transfer
• the customer has requested a written response only
• a verbal response was provided however the customer has additionally requested written confirmation of the complaint response
• the Level 2 Complaints Officer in consultation with their leadership team makes a decision that it is the most appropriate way to respond to a customer
• a manager chooses to write to a customer to address their behaviour where the customer has displayed unacceptable behaviours towards a Complaints Officer
• feedback is required to be written in a language other than English
• the customer is a Restricted Servicing Arrangement write only customer. Consideration must be applied to any current servicing arrangement requirements that a customer has in place and these must be adhered to

The Resources page contains instructions for staff in Centrelink and Medicare or Child Support when issuing a written response to a complaint.

For information about authorisations and delegations see:

• Centrelink Services, Delegations and Authorisations
• Child Support Services, Delegations and Authorisations
• Medicare Services, Delegations and Authorisations