News

Complaints Management Policy Consultation

Kingborough Council has released its updated draft Complaints Management Policy for public consultation.

Kingborough Mayor, Paula Wriedt said the draft complaints handling framework was available for residents and key stakeholders to provide feedback on through the Council’s website.

“The potential exists for complaints to be seen as a nuisance,” Cr Wriedt said.

“Yet complaints can be an important resource to councils as they give valuable feedback about services and, if used effectively, are a catalyst for improvement.

“Good complaint handling increases confidence in public administration.

“On the other hand, mishandled complaints can carry a high potential cost – both financial and reputational.

“Council’s current complaints management process is contained in within its Customer Service Charter.

“The updated policy builds on the Charter by providing more detail for both the community and Council staff about to how complaints will be managed in a consistent way across Council’s operations.

“The complaints framework is based on the Victorian Ombudsman’s guide Councils and Complaints: A Good Practice Guide 2015.

“Given the similar nature of Local Government across the country, the Victorian Ombudsman’s resources can be easily adapted for Tasmanian Councils.

“A good complaint handling process increases confidence in public administration and generates financial benefits for an organisation, so it makes sense that we want to get this policy and process right.

“It is timely to revisit the way that customer complaints are dealt with at all levels of the organisation.

“This way we can ensure our complaints mechanisms are integrated throughout Kingborough’s operational activities and are effective, efficient and promote fairness, integrity, and administrative excellence.”

Please for more information and to view the draft framework click here.