Family Complaint

Purpose of this procedure

To outline the parents complaints handling procedure.
Step No.

STEP

Overview

Description / Who is responsible

Grievance or
complaint
raised

Complaint raised by family: Families are actively encouraged to provide

feedback. Families can raise concerns with their Centre Director, Area
Manager, State Manager or Family Support Team (1800 222 543). See
Family Support Structure
Centre Director or Family Support Team: All complaints received will be
logged and assigned to a staff member for action in the Customer Service
Query Database within 24 hours of receipt. This includes recording of the
complainants contact details and complaint details.

STEP

Complaint is
logged and
assigned

Complaints taken by the Centre Director must be logged on the Customer

Service Query Database and will be automatically assigned to the Centre
Director for action.
Complaints taken by any other part of Goodstart including Area Manager,
State Manager, CEOs Office, Board Member or the Family Support Team,
must be logged on the Customer Service Query Database and assigned to a
responsible person (known as the assignee) to action.
In cases where the complainant has advised they have discussed the matter
with the first level contact and is not happy with the outcome, the query is
then assigned to the next level contact in accordance with the Family
Support Structure.

STEP

Notification

The Assignee: Notification if required under state legislation. Any

notifiable complaint or incident will automatically be reported to the Critical
Incident Team (CIT) when logged on the Customer Service Query
Database. CIT will notify the relevant regulatory authorities where legally
required under Federal and State legislation.
All parties can provide the contact details of the State Regulatory Authority
to the parent if requested to further discuss the complaint.

STEP

Assignee
response

The Assignee: Should aim to make contact with the complainant within 24
hours up to a maximum of 48 hours of being assigned, to clarify the details
of the complaint.
The Assignee will resolve the issue immediately if possible.
If they are unable to resolve the issue and need to investigate, the Assignee
will inform CIT than an unsubstantiated incident has occurred and is being

DOCUMENT NUMBER & TITLE

NQS6 Family Complaint PROCEDURE

POLICY OWNER

Sara Parrott, General Manager, Strategic

Communications

DATE PUBLISHED

31/10/2013

DOCUMENT VERSION

CONTENT OWNER
V2.0

Katie Kenealy, Brand and Family Insights

Coordinator, Strategic Communications

REVISION DUE DATE

18/11/2015

Ensure you are using the latest version of this policy. You can find it at
http://policies.goodstart.org.au/PoliciesandProcedures/NQS6%20Family%20Complaint%20PROCEDURE.doc
Warning uncontrolled when printed. This document is current at the time of printing and may be subject to change without notice.

Next
steps

investigated.
The Assignee will log this response and the referral to CIT into the Customer
Service Query Database.
The Assignee: Will investigate the alleged incident with the person whose
actions have given rise to the complaint to substantiate that the incident
happened, address what went wrong and ensure that it is does not happen
again.

STEP

Investigate
and address

It is the Goodstarts policy that any problems, issues or disputes are

managed fairly and promptly and are dealt with as close as possible to the
source of the problem.
All Goodstart staff are to respect the privacy of the family when addressing
any concern or grievance.
If it is not possible to address what went wrong with the people involved in
the alleged incident, the incident must be escalated for the immediate
attention of to the next level contact in accordance with the Family Support
Structure. Any anonymous complaint must also be investigated and deactivated.

STEP

Contact
complainant

The Assignee: The complainant is to be contacted on a regular basis, at

least weekly, to advise them of the investigation progress.
When the investigation is complete the complainant is to be contact
outcome and to reach a resolution.
The Assignee: Once the incident investigation has been completed and a
resolution reached, the Assignee will update the database with all relevant
information and de-activate the query with their full name and date of
completion.
To de-activate an enquiry click on the Family Grievance and Complaint
Handling title under the When Required tab of the Directors Desktop on
the intranet.
Select the relevant complaint from the "Please select a Customer Service
Query" drop down list. The name of the parent/guardian and the date of the
query are displayed.

STEP

Deactivation

Click the Edit button to add your investigation findings and final outcome to
the Follow up Information section
Enter your full name in the Deactivated By field.
Enter the Deactivated Date.
Click Save.
An exception report of unresolved complaints will be provided to State
Managers weekly by the Family Support Team.
An analysis report of complaint types will be provided to State Managers
and the Executive Committee monthly by the Family Support Team.

STEP

Resolution

DOCUMENT NUMBER & TITLE

Family: Any concerns not addressed in accordance with this procedure can
be discussed with the State Regulatory Authorities.

NQS6 Family Complaint PROCEDURE

POLICY OWNER

Sara Parrott, General Manager, Strategic

Communications

DATE PUBLISHED

31/10/2013

DOCUMENT VERSION

CONTENT OWNER
V2.0

Katie Kenealy, Brand and Family Insights

Coordinator, Strategic Communications

REVISION DUE DATE

18/11/2015

Ensure you are using the latest version of this policy. You can find it at
http://policies.goodstart.org.au/PoliciesandProcedures/NQS6%20Family%20Complaint%20PROCEDURE.doc
Warning uncontrolled when printed. This document is current at the time of printing and may be subject to change without notice.

Australian Capital Territory

02 6207 1114

New South Wales

1800 619 113

Northern Territory

08 8999 3561

Queensland

1800 637 711

South Australia

1800 882 413

Tasmania

1300 135 513

Victoria

1300 307 415

Western Australia

08 6210 3333

Responsibilities
This procedure is to be implemented by: All Staff.
Content owners: Sara Parrot, General Manager, Strategic Communications.

DOCUMENT NUMBER & TITLE

NQS6 Family Complaint PROCEDURE

POLICY OWNER

Sara Parrott, General Manager, Strategic

Communications

DATE PUBLISHED

31/10/2013

DOCUMENT VERSION

CONTENT OWNER
V2.0

Katie Kenealy, Brand and Family Insights

Coordinator, Strategic Communications

REVISION DUE DATE

18/11/2015

Ensure you are using the latest version of this policy. You can find it at
http://policies.goodstart.org.au/PoliciesandProcedures/NQS6%20Family%20Complaint%20PROCEDURE.doc
Warning uncontrolled when printed. This document is current at the time of printing and may be subject to change without notice.