List of Client Service Standards

On this page

In all of our service delivery, we will:

identify ourselves to you
be courteous, well presented, professional and helpful
provide information that is relevant, accurate and up-to-date
use plain and appropriate language
ensure you can contact us through a range of communication channels
actively address your diverse needs, including engaging an interpreter if you need one
listen to you, seek clarification when appropriate and direct you to information or individuals who can best assist you, when necessary
advise you about other service options that might suit your needs, when appropriate.

Our information will be accessible, clear and well presented and comply with all relevant legislation and government standards.

Telephone

Service Principles	Service Standards
Our telephones will be answered promptly	We will answer queued calls to our call centres within two (2) minutes
Our telephones will be answered promptly	We will respond to your calls within five (5) rings
We will be courteous, professional and helpful	When answering the telephone, we will provide you with our name and work area
We will be courteous, professional and helpful	When we call you, we will provide you with our name and work area and tell you why we are calling
We will be accessible by telephone	All departmental business areas will have telephone service options during business hours
	We will respond to your telephone messages within one (1) working day
	Our recorded messages will be current and give appropriate contact details during absences

Service Principles	Service Standards
We will help you promptly	We will serve you within 10 minutes of your arrival, if you have an appointment
	We will serve you within 20 minutes if you do not have an appointment
	We will advise you, in advance, about any delays in attending to you and we will make alternative arrangements where appropriate
We will be courteous, professional and helpful	We will wear our name badges and identify ourselves
We will be courteous, professional and helpful	We will be neatly dressed and well presented
We will be accessible	All departmental business areas will have in-person service options
We will be accessible	Our offices will be clean and comfortable, have clear signage and current, relevant information on display
Interview	We will give reasonable notice of interviews
	We will advise you about interview arrangements in a timely manner. Where legislative timeframes apply, we will meet them
	We will see you within 10 minutes of your appointment time and advise you, in advance, of any unexpected delays. Alternative arrangements will be made where appropriate

Service Principles	Service Standards
We will conduct interviews in a fair and reasonable manner	We will consider the appropriateness of any interview and whether the required information could be obtained in another way
We will actively address your diverse needs	We will conduct interviews in locations that reflect the nature of the interview (where necessary in a private and secure location)

Service Principles	Service Standards
We will respond to your correspondence promptly	We will reply to all correspondence in a timely way using the most appropriate contact method either by telephone, in person or in writing
We will respond to your correspondence promptly	We will acknowledge email requests within one (1) working day of receipt, and provide you with a likely timeframe for our full response
We will be courteous, professional and helpful	We will provide accurate, helpful and timely responses that are relevant to your needs
	We will identify ourselves and provide contact details in our written correspondence
	We will record all correspondence with you and this will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988
We will be accessible in writing	All departmental business areas will have mail contact options
We will be accessible in writing	We will use out-of-office email messages when away from the office, and provide you with alternative contact details

Service Principles	Service Standards
We will acknowledge applications promptly and inform you about the assessment processes	We will acknowledge all applications within seven (7) working days – unless we make a decision in that time
	We will provide you with the details of any outstanding requirements, next steps in your application and likely processing times in a timely manner
We will be courteous, professional and helpful	We will identify ourselves and provide you with options for contacting us
	We will let you know how and when you need to provide information to us
	Where you have a nominated representative, we will communicate with your representative
We will be open and accountable and tell you the reasons for our decisions	We will provide you with clear and timely reasons for our decisions and advise you if you have any review rights

Service Principles	Service Standards
We will provide clear, accurate, helpful and consistent information	We will regularly review and update information to ensure it is current and meets your needs and expectations
	Our information and services will be accessible to persons with disabilities

Service Principles	Service Standards
We value your compliments, complaints and suggestions	We will invite compliments, complaints and suggestions and will provide appropriate contact details in our client information
	We will acknowledge your compliment, complaint and suggestion within one (1) working day
	We will resolve client complaints received via the internet, email and telephone within 10 working days
	We will resolve written client complaints received via the letter, fax or courier within 20 working days
We will use your feedback to improve our services	We will monitor and report on all feedback, and take into account when reviewing and improving our services