Term
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Definition
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Complainant
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A person, organisation or their representative/advocate making a customer complaint.
A complainant is a ‘customer’ for the purposes of the customer complaints management framework if they are directly affected by the issue they are complaining about (e.g. a student complaining about something that has happened to them at school), or they are authorised representative of someone who has been directly affected (e.g. a parent complaining on behalf of their child).
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Complaint category
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Categories used to report on customer complaints at the organisational level:
- health and safety
- staff and volunteers
- services
- policy and procedure
- assets, infrastructure and information technology
- procurement, fees and charges
- third parties
- privacy
- other.
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Complaints officer
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A complaints officer is a departmental employee who is involved in managing customer complaints. Complaints officers may work in schools or education centres, regions or divisions. Their functions may include, but are not limited to, intake, assessment, management, resolution, and data entry. The management of a customer complaint may involve one or more complaints officers.
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Complaints requiring further action
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A reporting status applied when the complaint is closed. This is used in departmental reporting. Customer complaints will require further action if the complaint:
- is subject to internal review
- has resulted in changes to departmental policies, procedures or practices; or
- is subject to an external review (for example, by the Queensland Ombudsman or Queensland Human Rights Commission).
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Complaints requiring no further action
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A reporting status applied when the complaint is closed. This is used in departmental reporting. Customer complaints require no further action if the department has resolved/finalised the complaint at the point of service and there is no request for further action by the complainant or others (for example, Queensland Ombudsman or Queensland Human Rights Commission).
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Complaints requiring investigation and referral
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A customer complaint that is complex or involves serious issues of complaint. It may require specialist advice or support to resolve. It should be possible to resolve within 90 days, but may take longer subject to complexity.
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Complaints requiring some inquiry
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A customer complaint that involves multiple issues of complaint or a complicated situation (for example, historical issues, factual disputes, multiple parties). It should be possible to resolve within 45 days.
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Customer complaint
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A customer complaint is defined within section 219(4) of the Public Service Act 2008 as a complaint about the service or action of a department, or its staff, by a person who is apparently directly affected by the service or action. Examples may include complaints about:
- a decision made, or failure to make a decision, by a departmental employee
- an act, or failure to act, by the department
- the formulation of a proposal or intention by the department
- the making of a recommendation by the department
- the customer service provided by a departmental employee.
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Days
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Depending on the nature of the complaint and the area managing the complaint, customer complaints will be managed within either working days (i.e. business days) or school days (i.e. days during the school term).
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External review
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A process conducted by an external review body (for example, Queensland Ombudsman or Queensland Human Rights Commission) to ensure departmental decision-making is fair, reasonable and proper.
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Feedback
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Opinions, comments and expressions of interest or concern, made directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly to or about the department, its products, services, staff or its handling of a complaint. Feedback is not a customer complaint.
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Frivolous complaint
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A frivolous complaint is one that is trivial or meritless in nature, and does not justify the resources that would be required to action it.
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Human rights complaint
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A complainant can make a human rights complaint if the department has:
- acted or made a decision in a way that is not compatible with human rights; or
- failed to give proper consideration to a relevant human right when making a decision.
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Internal review
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A process conducted by appropriately trained departmental staff on request from the complainant which examines if the complaint management process for the original customer complaint was appropriate and/or if the outcome reached was reasonable. An internal review is not a re-investigation of the original customer complaint.
The department’s Internal review procedure provides more information about the internal review process.
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Internal review officer
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An internal review officer is a departmental employee who conducts an internal review. The officer must be:
- independent from the original customer complaint; and
- in a position equal to, or higher than, the original decision-maker and authorised to make internal review decisions, including recommendations, or be nominated by someone with this authority.
Internal review officers will be regional or divisional staff. An internal review may involve more than one internal review officer.
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Privacy complaint
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A complaint by an individual about an act or practice of an agency in relation to the individual’s personal information that is a breach of the agency’s obligation under the
Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) to comply with the privacy principles or an approval under section 157 of the Act.
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Procedural fairness
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Providing any party who may be affected by a customer complaint with a fair hearing and a reasonable opportunity to respond to any claims. Procedural fairness is also known as natural justice.
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Protected information
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Very sensitive and confidential information, where unauthorised and/or premature disclosure might cause damage to one or more parties. Refer to the Information security procedure for more information.
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Register
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A tool used to capture and record customer complaints data, including information about the complainant, their complaint, how the department has resolved the matter, and any reviews undertaken.
The Customer Complaints Management System (CCMS) is the department’s enterprise system for recording, assessing, managing, resolving and reporting on customer complaints. The CCMS should be used as the register for regional and divisional customer complaints.
Schools can record complaints in a school system or use a local register.
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Reporting status
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An assessment of the customer complaint completed at the point of resolution which identifies if the complaint requires no further action, or requires further action.
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Request for service
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An application for a service related to an interest or a concern made directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly to or about the department, its products, services, staff or its handling of a complaint. A request for service is not a complaint.
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Resolution
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A customer complaint is resolved when the issue raised is dealt with in line with the department’s customer complaints management approach. The resolution may or may not be to the complainant’s satisfaction.
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Simple complaint
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A customer complaint that involves an uncomplicated matter or only one complaint issue. It should be possible to resolve within 20 days and will require no, or limited, inquiry to address.
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System improvement
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System improvement may involve one or more of the following:
- referral for consideration of legislative or policy change
- policy or program development, review or revision
- process improvement (i.e. changes to procedures and workplace practices)
- expert assistance, staff development or performance improvement
- improved implementation (for example, issuing updated documentation or reminders)
- monitoring compliance
- other action to ensure that the matter is handled appropriately in future.
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Unreasonable complainant conduct
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Conduct is likely to be unreasonable where it involves actions or behaviours which because of the nature or frequency, raises substantial health, safety, wellbeing, resource or equity issues for the department, its staff, other service users or the complainant themselves. Examples include:
- unrelenting contact (e.g. excessive and unnecessary phone calls or emails)
- demanding conduct (e.g. demanding more reviews than departmental procedures allow, or demanding a different outcome without showing the original decision was incorrect)
- unreasonable lack of cooperation (e.g. refusing to identify the issue of complaint or providing disorganised information)
- unreasonable arguments (e.g. making irrational claims)
- unreasonable behaviour (e.g. aggression or violence to staff, or threatening harm to self and others).
The Managing unreasonable complainant conduct procedure provides more information.
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Vexatious complaint
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A vexatious complaint is a complaint that is not brought in good faith, and is instead designed to harass, annoy, or create a resource burden for the department.
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