When is a complaint to a Council not considered a complaint? Ombudsman releases enquiry findings
Date posted:
Soft guitar music begins to play.
Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass appears in mid-shot, seated at a desk in front of a window overlooking trees and buildings in Melbourne’s CBD. She is speaking directly to camera.
Glass: How well do local councils in Victoria deal with your complaints? That’s the question we sought to answer in my latest enquiry.
The opening scene fades to an image of the Ombudsman’s 2019 report into this issue, titled: “Revisiting councils and complaints”.
The image fades back to the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: We’ve found for years that one of the main causes of complaints about local councils is in fact the way those councils deal with complaints.
The shot fades to an image of the Ombudsman’s 2015 report into this same issue, titled: “Councils and complaints – A report on current practice and issues”. Text appears across the image: “In 2015 we found: One of the main causes of complaints was the way councils dealt with complaints”.
Glass: All too often complaints are seen as a nuisance, or provoke an unhelpful, defensive, bureaucratic response.
The image fades to a slide containing the text [emphasis added]: “Complaints were all too often seen as a nuisance; provoking a defensive, unhelpful, bureaucratic response.”
Glass: This can fuel people’s grievances rather than address them.
The slide fades back to the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: Actually, complaints are free feedback. They’re a great way for councils to find out how the public thinks they should improve their service.
Glass: What we wanted to check was whether councils were making it easy to complain, responding to complaints effectively and learning from complaints to improve services.
The shot fades to a slide containing the text:
“ARE COUNCILS:
- Making it easy to complain?
- Responding effectively?
- Learning from complaints?”
The slide fades back to the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: We found some positives compared to a few years ago. More councils have targets for responding to complaints promptly, tell people how they can ask for a review of a decision, and have complaint handling policies and provide training to staff.
The shot fades to a slide containing the text:
“FINDINGS
More councils now:
- have targets for responding promptly
- tell people how they can ask for a review
- have complaint handling policies
- provide training to staff.”
The slide fades back to the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: We also found areas where councils need to improve. A key problem is councils have no common definition of what a complaint is. We think it should cover any expression of dissatisfaction – that’s what the Australian Standard for complaints management says.
The shot fades to a slide containing the text:
“WHAT IS A COMPLAINT?
An expression of dissatisfaction made to or about an organisation, related to its products, services, staff or the handling of a complaint”.
Glass: But too many councils adopt a narrow definition of a complaint.
A new slide appears, containing the text:
“There was little consistency in what was classified as a complaint across Victoria’s
79 councils
Making comparisons difficult”.
Glass: For example, only about 30 percent of Victoria’s 79 councils said a resident who reported their bin had not been emptied was making a complaint.
A new slide appears, containing an image of a wheelie bin and the text:
“Missed bin collection
34% classified as a complaint”.
Glass: But a lot of complaints about missed bins will tell a council something about its service provider and given them a chance to fix it – to provide a better service to the community.
A new slide appears, containing an image of a house and the text:
“Disagreement with property valuation
15% classified as a complaint”.
A new slide appears, containing an image of a drain and the text:
“Blocked drain
74% classified as a complaint”
The slide fades back to the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: Too many councils say that they’re simply ‘requests for service’ and shouldn’t count as complaints. The risk here is that those who understate the level of public dissatisfaction may well be failing to deal with it.
A slide appears containing the text: “RECOMMENDATIONS”. The text quickly fades back to the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: I’ve recommended a range of measures to support councils in handling complaints better, including:
- changes to legislation to include a broad definition of a complaint and to require councils to manage and resolve complaints
- updating our guide for councils on how to best handle complaints
- and to provide more information about human rights and accessibility.
The shot fades to a slide containing the text:
“RECOMMENDATIONS
Accepted by the Minister for Local Government
- Broaden definition of complaint
- All councils to have a complaint handling policy
- Require councils to report publicly on complaint data."
The slide fades to an image of the Ombudsman’s 2015 guide for local councils dealing with complaints, titled: “Councils and complaints – A good practice guide”
The image fades back to the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: There needs to be a change in mindset about complaints. Complaints are a good thing. Councils with high numbers of complaints aren’t doing worse, they’re probably doing better at letting their communities know how to complain to them.
The shot fades to a slide containing the text [emphasis added]: “The goal is not to receive zero complaints. Complaints are a good thing – they’re a source of free feedback.”
The slide fades back to the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: Some councils have already embraced complaints for the free feedback they provide – it’s time for all councils to recognise this.
The shot fades back to the image of the Ombudsman’s 2019 report into this issue. Text appears at the forefront of the image: “Read the report: ombudsman.vic.gov.au/councils-and-complaints”.
The screen fades to black and the music fades to silence. End.
Many Victorian councils are understating the number of complaints they receive, raising concerns they are failing to deal with dissatisfaction from their communities, Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has found.
Ms Glass has surveyed all 79 Victorian councils, asking them how they define complaints and how many complaints they received in the last calendar year, among other questions.
Some councils could not say how many complaints they had received; others adopted a narrow definition. For example, only 34% of councils said they would consider it a complaint, as opposed to a 'request for service', if a person rang to say their bin hadn't been emptied the night before as scheduled.
"Far too many councils still adopt a narrow definition of complaint or interpret it narrowly in practice," Ms Glass said. "This matters. Not only is it impossible to compare the councils, those who understate the level of public dissatisfaction may well be failing to deal with it."
Ms Glass said one of the main causes of complaints about councils to her office was the way councils dealt with complaints. "All too often complaints are seen as a nuisance, or provoke a defensive, unhelpful, bureaucratic response.
"Complaints are actually a good thing - they are free feedback. Whether about a missed bin, blocked drain, rates notice or parking ticket, they say something about Council services.
"Capturing them as complaints allows councils to consider what may be needed to address systemic patterns of dissatisfaction that may emerge, to improve their service to their communities."
As part of her Revisiting councils and complaints enquiry, tabled in the Victorian Parliament this morning, Ms Glass has provided 79 summaries of how each council says it deals with complaints. Her survey produced some incongruous results, for example Melbourne City Council said it received 88 complaints in 2018 while one of Victoria's smallest shires - Ararat Rural City Council - said it received 1,180.
"I recognise that councils may have concerns about recording and reporting complaints, particularly when complaints data is used to criticise council services. But it is not a solution to disguise the true level of community dissatisfaction by labelling it as a 'request for service' or 'matter with a statutory right of appeal', instead of recognising is as a 'complaint'.
"I also acknowledge that many councils' IT systems affect their ability to record complaints, and it is encouraging to see some councils working on upgrades to complaints management systems."
Ms Glass's enquiry is a follow up to her 2015 report into how councils handle complaints. She said more councils now have policies for how complaints should be handled; more councils accept complaints by a variety of methods (eg by phone, letter, email and online), and the information provided to the public on how to complain is better.
However, many councils still needed to make their complaint systems more accessible, by providing information in simpler language, adopting tools that make it easier for people with a disability to make a complaint, and introducing translation and interpretation services.
Ms Glass said she was pleased the Victorian Government had accepted her four recommendations, which include legislative changes requiring councils to broaden the definition of what is a complaint and to report on their complaint data publicly each year.
Her office will update its release of data to assist councils, as well as improve its Good Practice Guide for complaint handling to make it more useful for council employees, and will continue to provide training for councils across the state.
Read the report here: Revisiting councils and complaints
Media contact: 0409 936 235