Feedback & Complaints Policy

1. Introduction

One&All is committed to providing high-quality services to Participants. One&All values and encourages open communication, complaints, and feedback from Participants and other stakeholders.

Feedback and complaints are an essential source of information and are used to improve One&All’s services wherever possible.

2. Purpose

This policy outlines One&All’s approach to managing and resolving feedback and complaints.

Feedback can be positive or negative and can be considered a complaint once assessed.

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction made to or about One&All related to its services, staff or the handling of a complaint.

This policy reflects One&All’s commitment to:

  • promote and implement an efficient and accessible system,

  • respond to and manage all feedback in a consistent, fair and timely manner,

  • improve the quality of the services it provides and how it responds to participant support needs,

  • use feedback to inform planning and systems and processes and to understand and introduce improvements and changes arising from feedback,

  • actively involve people making complaints in the complaints process as far as practicable and in appropriate circumstances,

  • provide support, tools and resources to assist people with making a complaint to (or about) One&All, and

  • foster a culture that welcomes and embraces feedback that is communicated, understood and acted upon.

3. Scope

This policy applies to all feedback and complaints related the provision of services by One&All from Participants and their family members and carers, One&All Staff (current and former), advocates, community members, health and medical professionals and any other external person or organisations.

This policy does not apply to complaints made by One&All Staff related to workplace issues.

4. Definitions

For the purpose of this policy:

One&All means Jewish House (ACN 140 232 873) trading as ‘One&All’.

One&All Hub means the centre located at 5-11 Mentmore Avenue, Rosebery.

One&All Staff means any employee, contractor or volunteer engaged by One&All to provide services at the One&All Hub.

Participant means an NDIS participant who participates in programs of support at the One&All Hub.

5. Staff Awareness & Training

All One&All Staff:

  • will be made aware of this policy as part of their onboarding with One&All. In addition, the current version of this policy is available to all One&All Staff at.

  • will be required to participate in complaints handling training relevant to their role.

6. Procedure

Who can provide feedback or make a complaint

Feedback can be provided or a complaint can be made:

  • by a Participant,

  • on behalf of a Participant by their family members, carers or One&All Staff (current and former),

  • by One&All Staff (current and former),

  • by advocates, community members, health and medical professionals and any other external person or organisations.

Methods for providing feedback or making a complaint

A person wishing to provide feedback or make a complaint may do so:

Time frames for feedback and complaint response & resolution

One&All will ensure that:

  • all complaints and feedback are acknowledged within 1 business day, and

  • all complaints are resolved within 30 days. This may not be achievable where there is an external third party involved. However, relevant stakeholders will be informed of progress on a regular basis by the complaint owner

7. Policy Objectives

Upholding privacy

One&All will maintain the privacy and confidentiality of any person who makes a complaint, as well as all interested parties involved, by:

  • taking reasonable steps to protect personal information from loss, unauthorised access or use and unauthorised disclosure during the complaints process, and

  • ensuring information is protected with controls on how and when certain information is used within the organisation and/or disclosed to external people or agencies.

Objectivity & fairness

One&All will address each complaint in an objective and impartial manner and will, if necessary, involve external agencies to assist in supporting the resolution of a complaint.

Conflict of interest will also be considered when assessing all complaints to ensure objectivity.

No detriment

One&All will take all reasonable steps to ensure that any person making a complaint, or on behalf of whom a complaint is made, is not adversely affected because a complaint is made by them or on their behalf.

Natural justice

One&All is committed to managing complaints in a manner that is consistent with the principles of natural justice. This means that any person who may be negatively affected by a decision will be given a fair and reasonable hearing and a decision will not be made until all relevant parties have been heard.

Procedural fairness

One&All is committed to managing complaints in a manner that is consistent with the rules of procedural fairness.

This means every effort will be made to:

  • ensure that all parties to a complaint know what to expect during the complaint handling process,

  • conduct the complaint handling process transparently and with a lack of bias,

  • provide all parties with equal opportunity to participate in the process following an assessment of their support needs (with consent),

  • ensure the complainant’s resolution expectations are considered and met where possible, and

  • provide evidence and reasoning to support decisions.

Roles & responsibilities

All One&All Staff should:

  • know and be trained in how to handle complaints relevant to their role, and

  • comply with all complaints handling and reporting requirements, including submitting a completed online feedback and complaints form or supporting any person to do the same.

All One&All managers should:

  • if they are managers:

    • encourage their team members to lodge all feedback and complaints via the online feedback and complaints form as soon as received,

    • support their team members to understand the difference between a complaint and feedback,

    • ensure that their teams are trained in complaints handling and monitor implementation of the process

8. Complaints Register

One&All will keep a register of complaints for a minimum of seven years.

Results from this register will be reviewed by One&All management on a regular basis and will be used to inform service planning, monitoring and evaluation of activities, including quality and continuous improvement activities.

9. Policy Review

This policy will be reviewed and, if necessary, updated on a regular basis to ensure that it continues to reflect the evolving needs of One&All and any applicable legislative or other regulatory requirements.

Effective: 30 April 2024