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Principles

Victoria Park Youth Accommodation (VPYA) welcomes feedback about its operations and services and is committed to ensuring its management of complaints are:

• fair – VPYA deals with complaints impartially, confidentially and with empathy. There are no adverse repercussions for making a complaint. VPYA is open about the process, informs complainants of progress, and, where appropriate, gives complainants the opportunity to respond and to seek internal review of complaint outcomes.

• accessible – information about how to make a complaint is easily available and complaints can be made in writing.

• responsive – VPYA will help or respond appropriately to all complainants including by extending special help to vulnerable people and those with particular needs as appropriate.

• efficient – complaints are resolved as quickly as possible and preferably, were appropriate, at the point of complaint or promptly upon receipt. Complaints are managed in a way that is proportionate and appropriate to the matter being complained about.

• integrated – complaint management is integrated with VPYA’s core business activities so that any lessons or systemic issues can be appropriately actioned.
   

What is the difference between Feedback and a Complaint?

Feedback comprises of both positive and negative information, opinions or input provided to VPYA and has scope for improvement. 

Complaint: is an expression of an unresolved concern or problem that is unacceptable / unsatisfactory.
 

Providing Feedback

VPYA values clients feedback and provide the following opportunities for feedback to be provided:

• During client service delivery

• After each major interaction with the service (e.g. initial assessment, reviews and exit)

Client can provide feedback at any time through:

• Feedback and Complaint Forms

• Phone: (08) 39614118

• Contact your Community Service Worker

• Email:  admin@vpya.org.au
   

Making a complaint

Complaints are to be made in writing to your Community Services Worker or the VPYA Manager.  Clients will be provided with a Client Complaint Form to complete.  This will help VPYA to thoroughly investigate the complaint.

Where a complaint relates to a matter where another organisation is better placed to investigate, VPYA may be able to help a complainant to direct the complaint to a relevant organisation such as a service provider, state or territory agency or regulator.

Management of complaints

Where possible and proper, VPYA will endeavour to address complaints quickly and informally. For example, it may be possible to resolve a straightforward issue through feedback or providing information.

Where this is not possible, the process outlined below will generally be applied. However, as complaints vary widely in their nature and content, VPYA manages complaints on a case-by-case basis and not all steps in the process will be relevant for every complaint. There may also be specific procedures for complaints where a statutory scheme or program guideline applies to a complaint.

1.  Acknowledgement

VPYA will acknowledge the complaint within 2 working days. The complainant will be provided an estimated timeframe for a response and a contact for queries regarding the complaint.

2.   Assessment

The complaint will be allocated and assessed.

3.   Investigation

Where it is not possible for VPYA to resolve the complaint at the first point of contact, an investigation may be undertaken. The purpose of an investigation is to resolve a complaint by reaching a fair and independent view on the issues raised. The investigation should resolve factual issues and consider options for complaint resolution.
 4.  Response

VPYA endeavours to provide clear and informative responses to complainants.

The length of time it takes for VPYA to investigate and respond to a complaint will depend on the nature and complexity of the issues involved and whether a third party is involved. The complainant will be kept informed of progress with the investigation until the matter is finalised. However, VPYA where practical, aims to resolve complaints within 20 working days.

The response may include the particulars of an investigation, findings or decisions reached and any outcomes, remedies or action proposed. In some instances, VPYA may have limitations on the extent of the information that can be provided to complainants for example, to protect personal privacy.

If, following investigation, VPYA does not accept a claim in a complaint, the complainant will be offered an opportunity to comment on the proposed adverse finding before it is finalised. If a claim continues not to be accepted, this should be noted and explained.

5.  Review

If a complainant would like further information or explanation about the complaint outcome, the staff member responsible for management of the complaint may be able to provide further explanatory material.

In some cases, it may be right for VPYA to offer internal review of how the complaint was managed and resolved, considering any other information provided by the complainant. External review options may also be available depending upon the nature of the complaint.

The complainant has the right to make a complaint to the Commonwealth Ombudsman's Office. VPYA will provide as much information as possible on request by the Commonwealth Ombudsman's Office.

Where VPYA has followed an appropriate complaints process and further correspondence continues to be received about the matters already investigated that does not raise new issues or provide new information, it may be appropriate to advise a complainant that no further correspondence will be entered into on those matters unless new evidence or information is provided.