External Reporting

External reporting can be a powerful tool of public accountability. By publishing generalised complaints - and the results of those complaints - in a public report, you can tell the public about the effectiveness of your organisation's complaint management system and show how it compares to those of other organisations. Such a report should briefly describe the complaint management system and include some basic data. The report could also include:

• the number of complaints received and the action taken to resolve them / prevent them from reoccuring
• a carry-over figure for matters unresolved at report date; and
• a breakdown by the resolution methods used i.e. concilliation, investigation, external means, mediation or legal action

A positive outcome or improvement in service resulting from handling complaints may boost the public's confidence in government services and programs in the long term. It is therefore important to publicly report on complaints analysis and to show where this has led to improvements.

Two questions that you should ask of your organisation:

• Has your organisation made service improvements after analysing problems highlighted by complaints?
• Does your organisation publish information about complaints and their resolution, and make that information available to service users?