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Annual Report 06–07
Output 2: Child Support Agency—Performance—Customer service excellence
High-quality customer service
During 2006–07, CSA took action to strengthen customer focus within the agency.
‘Customer First’ training for all staff commenced in the last quarter of the year and delivery of the first of four modules was completed by 30 June 2007. The training followed extensive development work on the materials in the modules based on customer feedback from workshops held across Australia. CSA staff attended these workshops and gained valuable insights into how CSA’s customer service was being perceived by separated parents.
New CSA Customer Service Principles were developed on the basis of the customer feedback. These principles are being used to generate a new customer commitment charter—a clear statement of the standards of service separated parents can expect from CSA staff. The charter will be completed in 2007–08.
Other activities undertaken during the year to improve customer service included:
- redesigning the change of assessment procedures to simplify the application form and make it easier for parents to provide the necessary information, and to institute telephone-based support and open exchange of information between the parents;
- simplifying CSA letters and forms to make them easier for customers to understand;
- halving the size of service delivery teams and creating new team leader roles and technical support arrangements to enable more effective team performance;
- increasing the functionality of CSAonline to give parents greater flexibility in managing their child support arrangements, including the ability to access their information and update personal details outside business hours;
- introducing Stage 1 of personalised services and more face-to-face service options for parents with complex cases, with national rollout planned in the first half of 2007–08;
- simplifying employer withholding arrangements for paying parents and their employers;
- linking CSA’s Indigenous customers with Centrelink’s Indigenous Advice Line; and
- referring parents to other providers, including Family Relationship Centres and the Family Law Advice Line.
As a part of a Human Services portfolio-wide project, CSA worked on improving the readability of the agency’s letters and forms. During the year, 23 forms and 76 of CSA’s high-volume letters were reviewed to ensure that they represent best practice in government correspondence. Through the Department of Human Services’ Ministerial Taskforce on Letters and Forms, headed by Senator Richard Colbeck, 65 of CSA’s revised letters received approval.
The introduction of CSAonline has seen a significant growth in the number of parents using the 24-hour, seven-day service. At 30 June 2007, more than 50,000 parents and employers had enrolled for access. CSAonline was a finalist in the Excellence in e-Government Awards 2007.
During the year, CSA made 6,112 referrals to the Family Relationship Advice Line and Family Relationship Centres to help resolve child support matters and other separation issues. These services referred 133 parents to CSA. Parents appreciated the efforts to provide more seamless service delivery and help in navigating the family law system.
CSA’s telephony performance remained strong, with 85 per cent of customer calls being answered within 30 seconds, a small decrease compared with 89.3 per cent in 2005–06.
Separated parents again reported improved satisfaction with CSA’s customer service. Results from the agency’s point-of-service ‘Customers Having a Say’ survey showed an increase in customer satisfaction rating from 5.7 in 2005–06 to 5.8 (out of a maximum score of 7.0) in 2006–07. CSA’s other key customer service rating index—the Professionalism Survey—also confirmed positive gains in customer satisfaction. In 2006–07, the average rating of the professionalism of staff increased from 3.9 in 2005–06 to 4.1 (out of 5.0) in 2006–07.
Total complaints received in 2006–07 were 9,151, as against 10,403 in the previous year. This decrease of nearly 12 per cent, despite a 2.2 per cent growth in caseload, followed a 15 per cent reduction from 2004–05 levels.
Objections to CSA decisions also declined, with a total of 17,376 being received during 2006–07 compared with 19,148 in 2005–06. Seventy-five per cent of objections received in 2006–07 affirmed CSA’s earlier decisions.
Improved accountability
CSA introduced call recording in June 2007 to provide improved accountability trails for both customers and staff. More than 300,000 calls were recorded and feedback from both customers and staff has been positive. This new system will also assist CSA staff to make better decisions by providing feedback for future training and development programs.
The implementation of Stage 2 of the Child Support Scheme reforms included the independent review of CSA’s objection decisions by the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT). Since 1 January 2007, when the SSAT’s jurisdiction over CSA decisions came into effect, less than 15 per cent of CSA objection decisions have been appealed. Of those, 44 per cent were changed as a result of the SSAT’s decisions.
This new independent review mechanism will provide greater public confidence in CSA decisions, for which external review had previously been limited to more expensive and less timely court processes. It will also provide CSA with independent views of the policy positions adopted in its internal decision making, and will allow adjustments where appropriate.