Customer complaints management procedure

Audience

Department-wide

Purpose

This procedure outlines the responsibilities and processes for the consistent management of customer complaints across the Department of Education (the department). This procedure applies to schools and education centres, regions and divisions. 

Overview

A complaint is a customer complaint if it involves an expression of dissatisfaction about the service or action of the department, or its staff, and the complainant is directly affected by the service or action. Customer complaints are an opportunity to identify issues and take action to improve service delivery and customer experiences, and drive a culture of continuous improvement.

This procedure should be read in conjunction with the:

• Customer complaints management framework and policy
• Internal review procedure
• Managing unreasonable complainant conduct procedure.

Some complaints received by the department are not customer complaints and need to be managed in a different way. Refer to the Excluded complaints factsheet for additional information.

Complaints about harm, or risk of harm, to a student attending a state school must be dealt with in accordance with the Student protection procedure. If the matter meets the definition of a customer complaint it must also be recorded as a customer complaint and included in departmental reporting.

Human rights complaints can also be a type of customer complaint. If a customer complaint is also a human rights complaint, it should be managed in accordance with this procedure.

Privacy complaints can also be a type of customer complaint. The process for managing them is contained in the Information privacy and right to information procedure. Privacy complaints that are also a customer complaint (and not an employee-related privacy complaint) must be recorded as customer complaints and included in departmental reporting.

Responsibilities

Complainant

• cooperate in a respectful way and understand that unreasonable conduct will not be tolerated
• lodge a customer complaint with the school or education centre, region or division
• provide a clear idea of the problem and the desired solution
• provide all relevant information when the customer complaint is made
• understand that complex customer complaints can take time to assess, manage and resolve
• understand that some decisions cannot be overturned or changed using the Customer complaints management framework
• inform the department of changes affecting the customer complaint, including if help is no longer required
• if dissatisfied with the outcome of the customer complaint, request an internal review within 28 days of receiving the complaint outcome.

All staff involved in managing customer complaints (complaints officers)

• manage customer complaints according to the department’s framework, policy, Internal review and Managing unreasonable complainant conduct procedures, and this procedure
• direct customers to the department’s website if they are seeking information about making a customer complaint
• decide if a customer complaint is frivolous or vexatious
• decide if a customer complaint is also a human rights complaint
• consider human rights when responding to a customer complaint
• resolve customer complaints promptly and in accordance with framework timeframes
• advise the complainant that they can seek an internal review with 28 days if they are dissatisfied with the complaint outcome and/or the way the complaint was handled
• maintain appropriate records to support each step in the customer complaints and human rights complaints management processes and enable departmental reporting
• provide procedural fairness to complainants and persons who are the subject of the customer complaint
• keep an up-to-date customer complaints register
• consider customer complaints management as part of planning and risk management activities
• participate in customer complaint management training and awareness activities.

Additional responsibilities for principals or deputy principals

• ensure information about how to make a customer complaint and how a complaint will be managed is available at the school or education centre (for example, information displayed in the reception or a school complaints process on the school or education centre website)
• escalate a request for an internal review to the regional office for management
• report to the regional director on customer complaints matters or seek advice as required.

Additional responsibilities for complaints officers in regional offices and central office divisions

• undertake internal reviews as an internal review officer in accordance with the Internal review procedure
• report to Strategy and Performance and management on customer complaints matters
• ensure information on how to make a customer complaint is available in the reception area
• review customer complaint information to inform improvements to service delivery.

Director-General

• publish annual customer complaints data on the department’s website by 30 September, as required under section 219A(3) of the Public Service Act 2008 (Qld).

Customer complaints coordinators, Strategy and Performance

• maintain customer complaints management resources, including policies, procedures, supporting materials and websites
• provide system administration support for the Customer Complaints Management System (CCMS)
• manage quarterly and annual customer complaints and human rights reporting
• provide advice and guidance to staff involved in customer complaints management
• review customer complaints management activities to identify opportunities for better practice
• organise training to ensure staff understand the department’s customer complaints management approach and their responsibilities
• seek and action feedback about the customer complaints management approach.

Process

The department’s approach to handling customer complaints is based on the Australian/New Zealand Standard (AS/NZS ISO 10002:2014 – Guidelines for complaint management in organisations).

Image 1 Process review flowchart

1. Early resolution

Receive complaint and record in register

• The complainant will raise an issue with the department, either in writing, over the phone, or in person.
• The complaints officer must decide if the issue is a customer complaint.
  • It will be a customer complaint if the complainant is dissatisfied with the service or action of the department or its staff, the complainant is directly affected by the service or action, and some outcome is sought.
  • It will not be a customer complaint if the customer is:
    • requesting more information
    • requesting a change in services or requesting a new service
    • making a suggestion for improving the department’s services
    • expressing a concern about a situation
    • providing feedback on the department’s performance
    • not directly affected by the decision or action of the department
    • providing information (for example, reporting an incident).
• If the issue is a customer complaint, the complaints officer must record the customer complaint in the register. Protected information must not be entered into the register.
  • Refer to the Information security procedure for information security classifications.
• If the issue is not a customer complaint, it must still be actioned, but it will either be dealt with as standard correspondence or under one of the approaches in the Excluded complaints factsheet.
• The complaints officer must provide acknowledgement to the complainant that their customer complaint has been received. Acknowledgement can be provided in writing or verbally.
• The complaints officer should consider if any health, safety, wellbeing or resourcing issues are raised by the complaint or the complainant’s conduct, and if they are concerned they should escalate to a manager to determine any action to take.

Assess and resolve

• The complaints officer should consider if the customer complaint is frivolous or vexatious.
  • If not frivolous or vexatious, proceed to assess and resolve the complaint.
  • If the complaint is frivolous or vexatious, the complaints officer should advise the complainant that the complaint will not be examined. This must be recorded in the register or department’s records management system. The remainder of this procedure does not need to be followed and the complaint is closed.
• The complaints officer must also decide if the complaint engages or limits human rights contained in Part 2 of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) by considering the following questions:
  • Are any human rights engaged or impacted by the decision or action complained about?
  • If so, did the decision or action being complained about limit those human rights?
  • If so, was the limitation lawful, justified and reasonable in the circumstances?
  • The Guide: Customer complaints management and human rights provides more information about assessing if a complaint engages human rights.
  • The complaints officer must document their assessment and decision-making process for human rights complaints. The early resolution outcome report template (DoE employees only) can be used for this purpose.
• Customer complaints should be assessed and resolved at the point of receipt, where possible. The complaints officer should assess the customer complaint and determine the best way to resolve it by:
  • identifying each complaint issue
  • identifying relevant benchmarks, standards or criteria to assess the complaint against (for example, legislation, policies, or procedures)
  • gathering relevant information or documentation, including from the complainant.
• The complainant should be contacted by the complaints officer if additional information is required to confirm the complaint issues or the outcome sought, or to provide information about the customer complaints management process, such as timeframes and complainant responsibilities.
• Subject to the complexity and nature of the customer complaint and when the complaint is received (for example, in school holidays), the complaints officer should aim to resolve the customer complaint within the following framework timeframes:
  • simple complaint: up to 20 days
  • complaints requiring some inquiry: up to 45 days
  • complaints requiring investigation and referral: up to 90 days, or longer in some cases
  • complaints involving human rights issues: up to 45 business days.
• The complaints officer should keep the complainant informed of any changes or emergent issues that impact the resolution of their customer complaint. 
• Options for resolving the customer complaint that may apply include:
  • providing an explanation to the complainant about the decision, action, etc. and reasons if not previously provided
  • dismissing the customer complaint (for example, if the decision complies with legislation, or policies or procedures of the government or department)
  • concluding that the customer complaint has been substantially resolved
  • reaching a compromise solution
  • upholding the customer complaint and implementing specific action, such as overturning a decision, giving an apology or providing a service not previously provided
  • addressing or referring the issue for system improvement.
• The complaints officer must record appropriate notes in the register throughout the assessment and resolution phase.
• Procedural fairness must be afforded to a person who is the subject of the customer complaint and the complainant.

Communicate outcome

• The complaints officer must advise the complainant of the outcome of the assessment and resolution process. This should include:
  • a clear explanation of the final decision
  • any recommendations
  • any review options available to the complainant, including internal or external review.
• The complaints officer must ensure they keep appropriate records about the information provided to the complainant. This should be stored in the register and/or department’s records management system.

Close complaint

• The complaints officer will close the complaint and record information in the register about the complaint outcome and any further activities that need to occur.
• If further activities are recommended, the complaints officer is responsible for implementing and monitoring the recommended action, or referring the matter to the responsible area for attention.

2. Internal review

• If the complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of their customer complaint and/or the way the customer complaint was handled by the department, the complainant can request an internal review. This request should be submitted within 28 days of receiving the complaint outcome.
  • The internal review must be completed in accordance with the Internal review procedure.

3. External review

• If an internal review is completed, and the complainant remains dissatisfied, they can seek an external review.
• The complaints officer must provide the complainant with details of external review agencies (such as the Queensland Ombudsman, Office of the Information Commissioner or Queensland Human Rights Commission) to assist the complainant to seek an external review.
• If an external review agency accepts the request and requests information from the department to enable an external review to be conducted, the complaints or internal review officer must record the external review request in the register.

Definitions

Legislation

• Public Service Act 2008 (Qld) section 219A
• Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (Qld) section 46
• Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) part 2 and sections 58(1), 63, 97

Delegations/Authorisations

• Delegation of Director-General’s powers under Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 section 46

Other resources

• Customer complaints management framework
• Enterprise risk management policy
• Enterprise risk management framework
• Managing employee complaints policy
• Early childhood education and care complaints management policy
• Managing employee complaints procedure
• Education Queensland International – Complaints and appeals
• Enterprise risk management procedure
• Student protection procedure
• AS/NZS ISO 10002:2014 – Guideline for complaint management in organisations
• Compliments, suggestions and customer complaints
• Customer complaints management (DoE employees only)
• Excluded complaints factsheet
• Customer complaints early resolution outcome report template (DoE employees only)
• School complaints register (DoE employees only)
• Request for internal review form
• Internal review information sheet
• Internal and external review – CCMS guide (DoE employees only)
• Complaints lifecycle guide – CCMS guide (DoE employees only)

Superseded versions

Previous seven years shown. Minor version updates not included.

2.0 Customer complaints management

1.0 Customer complaints management