Auditor-General's report published, Ministry of Social Development: How it deals with complaints – Progress in responding to the Auditor-General’s recommendations

The Auditor-General's report Ministry of Social Development: How it deals with complaints – Progress in responding to the Auditor-General’s recommendations was presented to the House of Representatives today.

In 2014, we published a report on how well the Ministry managed complaints about how it delivers its services. We found that the Ministry handled complaints well but that it could improve some aspects of the process.

To follow up our 2014 audit, we focused our work on what progress the Ministry had made against our two recommendations.

Overall, the Ministry has made slower progress than expected since our 2014 report and has yet to fully put in place our recommendations. Changes to the organisation of services have taken priority and slowed progress. Responding to unanticipated events and changes to the Ministry’s systems have also affected progress. However, it has made some improvements to how it communicates with people about complaints, including better clarity on the process and expected timeframes.

In August 2016, the Ministry began a new project to specifically address our recommendations. Progress is being made on preparing a Ministry-wide strategy on complaints management, followed by the development of an improved IT system to manage, monitor, and report complaints. The Ministry needs to ensure that this project is appropriately managed and resourced to achieve its intended benefits.

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