Disability Services Commission - Parliament of Western Australia

2.3.2 Complaints handling
Disability Services Standard Seven specifies that people with disability, their families
and carers are free to raise, and have resolved, any complaints or disputes they may
have regarding a service provider or a service. Carers can also lodge complaints in
their own right under the Carers Recognition Act 2004.
The Commission has a Consumer Complaints Management Policy and Procedure for
responding to complaints. The Commission is committed to the principles of an
accessible and responsive complaints process and continually strives to improve the
levels of satisfaction for people making complaints about services.
People with disability, their families and carers are encouraged and assisted by the
Commission to raise any concerns they might have about a service provider or a
service. They are provided with information about relevant complaints and disputes
processes and have the option of raising a concern directly with the staff member
providing the service or making a formal complaint to a line manager or to the
Consumer Liaison Service. Complaints can be lodged online, by telephone, by letter
or in person.
The Consumer Liaison Service consists of the Commission’s Consumer Liaison
Officer and a network of Local Consumer Liaison Officers. The Service promotes a
contemporary complaints management process that is receptive, responsive and
accessible to people with disability and their carers from all cultural and linguistic
backgrounds.
Complaints regarding disability sector organisations are handled by the individual
organisations or by the Health and Disability Services Complaints Office. Information
about complaints to the Health and Disability Services Complaints Office are detailed
under the heading ‘External review of complaints – Health and Disability Services
Complaints Office’.
Complaints lodged with the Disability Services Commission July
2011–June 2012
The following data has been retrieved from the internal complaints monitoring and
collection process.
• Forty-three new complaints were lodged about services the Commission provided to
people with disability, 14 less (24.5 per cent) than the previous year.
• Twelve complaints were carried over from the previous year, making a total of 55
complaints for resolution.
• Fifty complaint cases were closed and five were outstanding at 30 June 2012.
• Seventy-eight per cent of complainants were satisfied with the handling of their
complaint (up from 63 per cent last year), six per cent were not satisfied and the
remainder did not provide a satisfaction rating.
• Seventy-four per cent of complainants were satisfied with the outcome of their
complaint (up from 59 per cent last year), 10 per cent were not satisfied and the
remainder did not provide a rating.
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