Complaints Management Policy

1. What is this policy about?
   1. This policy provides guidance on the Directorate’s approach to managing complaints in relation to, or about incidents that occur at, ACT public schools.
2. Policy Statement
   1. The Directorate values complaints and feedback as an important mechanism to support service improvement.
   2. The Directorate supports the rights of all members of the school community to provide feedback and make complaints.
   3. This policy supports the management of complaints in a manner that maintains a student-centred approach which supports students, parents and carers, schools and the community to maintain positive relationships and active engagement in education.
   4. The Directorate’s complaints management processes and procedures are based on widely accepted best practice principles of complaint handling.
   5. In assessing and responding to complaints, the Directorate will:
      • take all complaints seriously;
      • treat the complainant with respect and listen to understand their needs;
      • reply in a timely manner;
      • encourage and support the complainant to seek early resolution of complaints at a local level (with the original decision-maker) wherever possible and, as quickly as possible, tell the complainant how we handle complaints;
      • ensure all acts and decisions consider all relevant human rights when assessing and responding to complainants;
      • share the complainant’s feedback, with their permission, with relevant areas of the Directorate to inform service improvement; and
      • appropriately disclose any conflicts of interest that might affect or appear to affect a staff member’s handling of their complaint.
   6. This policy seeks to ensure that all parties are treated fairly, and those involved in a complaint are provided with a reasonable opportunity to present their views and respond to the issues raised.
3. Who does this policy apply to?
   1. This policy applies to all ACT Education Directorate staff, ACT public school students, parents/carers and any person authorised to act on behalf of a complainant such as a support person or advocate, or any other member of the school community or the publics.
   2. This policy is separate to other formal processes that already exist to respond to matters relating to:
      • complaints made by Directorate employees;
      • fraud and corruption;
      • criminal actions;
      • legal claims; and
      • formal review requests under a legislated internal review scheme.
4. Context
   1. Under the Education Act 2004, the Director-General must develop and implement a complaints policy for ACT public schools. The Director-General must, as soon as practicable, investigate any complaint about the administration, management, and operation of ACT public schools that, in the Director-General’s opinion, is not a frivolous or vexatious complaint.
5. Responsibilities
   1. Senior Executive Staff: are responsible for promoting a culture that values feedback and complaints and their effective resolution by way of ensuring the Directorate maintains an effective complaints management system.
   2. Principal: is responsible for clearly communicating to staff their responsibilities and requirements, including policy and procedures related to complaint management implementation at a local level.
   3. All staff: are responsible for ensuring they are familiar, and comply, with the policy and procedures to ensure effective implementation.
   4. Feedback and Complaints: is responsible for establishing and providing leadership in best practice complaints management practices; triaging and recording complaints management; documenting, analysing and reporting on complaints data; and support prompt, fair and impartial resolution of complaints about ACT public schools.
   5. Policy Owner: the Executive Branch Manager, Governance, Business Services Group, is responsible for this policy.
6. Monitoring and Review
   1. The Policy Owner is responsible for proposing amendments as and when required and undertaking a full review of the policy every five years after publication.
7. Contact
   1. For support contact the Directorate on (02) 6205 5429 or via the Directorate’s online contact form: https://www.education.act.gov.au/about
8. Complaints
   1. Any feedback about this policy, should be raised with the policy owner. Refer to Contact information above.
9. References
   1. Definitions
      • Advocate is someone acting on behalf of the complainant with the consent of the complainant.
      • Complaint is an implied or express statement of dissatisfaction where a response is sought, reasonable to expect or legally required.
      • Complainant is any individual affected by the actions or inaction of the Directorate, who is making a complaint to the Directorate.
      • Directorate refers to ACT Education Directorate as an organisation, including staff in schools and the Education Support Office.
      • Human rights refer to the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights protected by the Human Rights Act 2004.
      • Frivolous or Vexatious refers to a complaint falsely made, or unwarranted when compared to its merits.
      • Parent/Carer responsibility is defined under Div 1.3.2 the Children and Young People Act 2008 and means all duties, powers, responsibilities and authority parents have by law in relation to their children, including the following aspects of parental responsibility:  (a) daily care responsibility for the child or young person; (b) long-term care responsibility for the child or young person. ‘Out-of-home’ carer is defined at section 508 of the Children and Young People Act 2008 and means (a) a kinship carer for the child or young person; or (b) a foster carer for the child or young person; or (c) a residential care service for the child or young person.
      • Support Person is someone, generally known to the complainant, nominated by the complainant to assist them throughout the complaint process.
   2. Legislation
      • Discrimination Act 1991 - aims to eliminate discrimination including in education.
      • Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cwlth) - aims to eliminate, as far as possible, discrimination in areas including education.
      • Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cwlth) - clarifies the obligations of education and training providers and seeks to ensure that students with disability can access and participate in education on the same basis as other students.
      • Education Act 2004 - provides for the operation and governance of ACT public schools.
      • Human Rights Act 2004 - aims to respect, protect and promote human rights in the ACT.
      • Human Rights Commission Act 2005 - establishes the ACT Human Rights Commission to provide an independent, fair and accessible process for the resolution of complaints between users and providers of prescribed services, such as educational services for children and young people. As a service provider for children and young people, schools are required to provide information to their school community about the rights of consumers to make complaints under this Act and how feedback may be given to the school or Education Support Office.
      • Public Interest Disclosure Act 2012 - provides for people to report wrongdoing in the ACT public sector and protections for people making disclosures.
      • Freedom of Information Act 2016 - provides a right for individuals to seek access to government information, including records about themselves, subject to various protections.
      • Information Privacy Act 2014 - promotes the protection of individual privacy by regulating the handling and management of personal information by ACT public sector agencies.
   3. Implementation Documents
      • Complaints Management Framework   (172 kb)
      • Complaints Management Procedure (387 kb)
      • Complaints Recording Template (63 kb)
   4. Related Policies and Information
      • Talking With Your School brochure (146 kb)
      • Working Together With Your School brochure  (127 kb)
      • Talking With Your School poster – to satisfy the requirements of the Human Rights Commission Act 2005, this poster must be displayed in a prominent position at the school (e.g. school reception area). (627 kb)

is the unique identifier of this document. It is the responsibility of the user to verify that this is the current and complete version of the document, available on the Directorate’s website at http://www.education.act.gov.au/publications_and_policies/school_and_corporate_policies/A-Z/.