LEX 49760 Documents released.pdf

LEX 49760
Document 1

LEX 49760
Document 2

  DSS Comments and
o  DSS confirm that the information captured is only
input cont.
what is provided on initial contact before indirect
referrals are made
o  FCT capture details of complaints within our
complaints management system even where
matters are referred away from the department.
FCT is working with the DSS privacy team to
identify what can and can’t be shared from these
records – privacy are working on an impact
assessment to assist in the discussions around
sharing this information
o  FCT note an increase in complaints related to debt
notice letters have not been received prior to
payment reductions
•  DSS confirm that DSS and SA corporate protocol is also
with the DSS governance team
Services Australia
Matters raised:
comments and input
•  Draft for discussion: high-level reporting on complaint

volumes, trends and reasons

o  Data presented shows a direct correlation between
service demand and complaints received (ie.

increased complaints received during Covid-19

peak)
o  Similarly, following a steep decline in complaints

following the above mentioned peak, there was

another peak as Covid-19 restrictions were

removed and documentation requirements were
enforced

o  Data presented also shows a large number of

legislative complaints that may be used as a
discussion piece in this forum

o  SA seeking input regarding identified trends within

Child Support correspondents
o  SA feel that complaint case studies highlighting

policy issues may be beneficial to table in this

forum

o  SA are aware of technical issues regarding batch
letter mail outs, that are generally manually

resolved in a timely manner, however can provide

notice within this forum where issues have been
identified

o  206 income apportionment complaints since

October 2023
•  ToRs have been circulated and look good. SA wil  review

and come back with comments at a later date

o  Income apportionment discussions may need to

have policy team involved – possibly rename to a
broader topic like ‘regulatory matters’

2

  Services Australia
•  SA are considering a direct referral model and would
comments and input
welcome DSS data to assist in the discussion regarding
cont.
this change
o  SA are also unable to make direct referrals due to
privacy at this time
o  SA querying how much detail is captured by DSS
when making indirect referrals
•  DSS and SA corporate protocols are currently with the SA
governance team for review
•  SA seeking a timeframe on privacy impact assessment
o  SA also seeking details of previously referred
matters, where accepted under privacy, to
understand how the matters were resolved and
what actions occurred following DSS’s referral

3

LEX 49760
Document 3

LEX 49760
Document 4

  DSS Comments and  •  DSS querying Services Australia’s approach to
input cont.
accommodating to a person’s disability where it may be
considered ‘aggressive’ or ‘unreasonable’ language and
behaviour within the complaints framework and guidance
•  Next meeting is 14 March 2024
Services Australia
Matters raised:
comments and input
•  Services Australia will seek SES clearance on ToRs also

•  Services Australia note key stakeholders for this meeting

are: o  Escalated complaints for Centrelink and Medicare

o  External complaints team for Centrelink and

Medicare
  Tasked with MinCorro, Ombudsman, Social

Media, etc

  Represented by s 47F

o  Escalated complaints for Child Support
  Represented by s 47F

o  External complaints for Child Support

  Represented by s 47F

o  Reporting and Analysis team

  Represented by s 47F
however s 47F

wil  attend future meetings
•  Services Australia seeing a large volume of complaints

recently, with a number of causes touched on during

Senate Estimates

o  People are seeking alternate paths into the agency
due to delays with main contact points

•  Draft data report provided holds a section dedicated to

Income Apportionment matters
o  Services Australia seeking feedback on draft

before clearing with SES to provide as an ongoing

document

o  There is the potential to provide further information
on complaints related to policy and legislation if

that is of interest to DSS

•  Services Australia understand that incorrect Child
Support referrals were raised in a previous meeting, and

have done an internal search to identify these calls

o  One call was identified where the agent consulted
with DSS, and did not transfer the call for a data

period from 01 September 2023

o  s 47F
is happy to discuss individual cases

outside of this forum if need be
•  Interim Care decisions paused as policy advice did not

match legislation

o  Complaint received which resulted in an act of
grace payment following advice received from DSS

o  Services Australia unsure if a CDDA claim would
be more appropriate in this situation
2

  Services Australia
o  Would like to have a consistent approach from
comments and input
both DSS and Services Australia
cont.
•  Whether a ‘direct referral model’ can/should be in place
o  The Student Payments branch in DSS made
requests for call recordings and customer details
during the management of a complaint
o  The complaint seemed to be regarding service
delivery, specifically Austudy
o  It seems that the management of this complaint
was not occurring within the visibility of either
Services Australia’s or DSS’s complaints teams
o  Services Australia would like to understand if there
are other connections between the two agencies
that the complaint teams are not aware of or
involved in, and if there may be an opportunity to
expand on these functions to facilitate further
collaboration within the complaints space
•  Services Australia happy to continue sharing process
documentation, both inside and outside this forum, if it is
considered useful
•  Services Australia’s personalised services team provide a
more tailored contact for persons who may meet UCC
guidance criteria
o  The team can share some of the documentation
they have

3

LEX 49760
Document 5

MONTHLY CUSTOMER FEEDBACK HIGH LEVEL SUMMARY   DECEMBER 2023
Notable results and spikes
•  Claim, telephony, service centre and decision related complaints have had the greatest percentage increase in the 2023-24 FYTD
compared to the same period last year.
o  A Claim, Application or Assessment Process   133.7% increase on 2022-23 FYTD (40% of all Centrelink complaints)
o  A Phone Service   113.6% increase on 2022-23 FYTD (14.1% of all Centrelink complaints)
o  A Service Centre   40.5% increase on 2022-23 FYTD (1.4% of all Centrelink complaints)
o  A Decision, Outcome or Payment   28.8% increase on 2022-23 FYTD (27.3% of all Centrelink complaints)

•  There continues to be a significant number of ‘claim wait time’ complaints received. There were 5,282 complaints received in
December, a slight decrease of 14.1% in comparison to November (6,151)
o  In December, the top 5 payments for claim wait time complaints were:
▪  Job Seeker Payment   15.2%
▪  Age Pension   14.1%
▪  Parenting Payment Single- 11.1%
▪  Low Income Health Care Card   10.9%
▪  Disability Support Pension   7.7%
Top 10 and movements
The Agency’s Customer Feedback Tool (CFT) is used to capture complaints and feedback for Centrelink and Medicare services. A
prescribed list of complaint/feedback reasons (based on a ‘service: issue’ matrix   e.g. A Phone Service: I waited too long) are used to
categorise what the feedback is about. The results in the chart and table below is a concatenation of the primary complaint reason, or the
service (Reason Level 1) and the more granular complaint driving issue (Reason Level 2).
The top 10 complaint reasons this financial year are provided in the table and chart below:
Page 4 of 12
Services Australia

MONTHLY CUSTOMER FEEDBACK HIGH LEVEL SUMMARY DECEMBER 2023
Page 5 of 12
Services Australia

MONTHLY CUSTOMER FEEDBACK HIGH LEVEL SUMMARY   DECEMBER 2023
Notable Results and Spikes
•  Processing delay complaints have increased by 114% in the 2023-24 FYTD, compared to the same period last year.
o  The increase in the number of processing delay complaints in 2023-24 FYTD, compared to 2022-23 FYTD, corresponds with
declining timeliness KPM performance results - particularly for Change of Assessment and New Customer registrations
processed.
•  Lack of Collection complaints have increased by 31.1% compared to the same period last year.
o  The increase in collection complaints corresponds with the Total Child Support Debt growth which is accelerating in 2023 and
the gap between liabilities raised and credits applied continues to widen since December 2022.

Top 10 and movements

Child Support are yet to be on boarded to a CFT solution and continue to record customer feedback (complaints and compliments) in
CUBA. As such, Child Support customer feedback has a different data structure to that of Centrelink and Medicare. Complaints are
attributed to one or more of 12 categories and to one or more issues within those categories. The results in the chart and table below are a
concatenation of the category and associated issue for the complaint.

Page 8 of 12
Services Australia

MONTHLY CUSTOMER FEEDBACK HIGH LEVEL SUMMARY DECEMBER 2023
The top 10 complaint reasons this financial year are provided in the table and chart below:

Page 9 of 12
Services Australia

MONTHLY CUSTOMER FEEDBACK HIGH LEVEL SUMMARY DECEMBER 2023

Page 12 of 12
Services Australia