## Citizen‘s Charter

Modernization of Public Administration Department (Odbor modernizace veřejné správy)
» czech » english »

### Making complaints systems work

19-20 June 2006
A joint initiative of the OECD and the European Union, principally financed by the EU
Prezentaci si můžete stáhnout také ve formátech: ppt, odp, pdf

#### Prof. Salvador Parrado Prof. Salvador Parrado
UNED and Governance UNED and Governance
International

#### Citizen Charter, Second Training Seminar
Prague, 19-20 Prague, 19-20 June

Source: Adapted from UK Cabinet Office

##### Recommendations for dealing with complaints

- Keep it simple - avoid long forms.
- Use the phone more than a letter.
- Find out straight away what the person complaining wants you to do about the problem.
- For less serious complaints, better a quick apology.
- Give personal and specific replies, not standard answers.
- Treat people as you'd like your mother to be treated.
- Don't pass the problem. If you need to refer to someone else give the customer full details.
- Be clear about your remedies.
- Feedback citizens about improvements resulting from their complaints.
- More complaints show that your customers trust you to take them seriously.

##### Stages of developing a complaints system

- Service standards
- How to complain
- The stages of the complaints procedures
- Deadlines for receiving a reply
- The possible result

##### Access to the complaints procedure

- Encouraging complaints and compliments by advertising your procedures and making them easy to use.
- Making it clear that you welcome complaints and comments and will use the information to improve your services.
- Allowing complaints for users with special difficulties, reading disability or whose first language is not Czech.
- Carrying out surveys and ‘mistery shoppers’ to check that your system is easy to use

##### Handling complaints

- Having clear written procedures
- Consulting staff and users when drawing up and revising complaints procedures.
- Fair treatment of staff and users, and confidentiality of information.
- All staff, especially those who have most contact with users, should know your policy and receive training.
- A menu of remedies that staff and users should understand.
- Get senior managers' commitment to handling complaints properly.

##### Dos about handling a complaint

- give your name
- take the person who complains seriously
- tell the person what will happen next and the stages of the procedure
- act quickly once the complainant has left
- get their details, e.g. names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates
- listen, get the facts and make notes
- stay calm even if the person gets angry
- be sympathetic and honest

##### Don’ts about handling a complaint

- argue with the complainant
- get into a blame conversation
- accept abuse from a complainant, e.g. swearing
- deter people from making a complaint (asking them not do it, to do it in writing, in person or coming back later)
- consider the complaint as a personal criticism
- use jargon when writing back to the complainant

##### Organising the handling of your complaints system

- Encouraging front-line staff to 'own' complaints combined with a centrally monitoring system
- Responsibility for investigating and replying to complaints should generally lie with the section responsible for the failure in service.
- The sections handling complaints should maintain close links with all parts of the organisation.

##### The procedure about the written reply should
(i)

- be written in clear language;
- be simple to operate;
- cover complaints about both operational and policy matters;
- be reviewed regularly; and

##### The procedure about the written reply should
(ii)

- aim to answer all the points of concern;
- be factually correct;
- avoid jargon;
- be signed by the officer responsible;
- contain a contact phone number and e-mail; and
- tell the person what to do next if they are still not satisfied.

##### Results

- Analysing complaints to understand users' views and the improvements they want.
- Publishing information at least once a year on:

- the number and type of complaints;
- how quickly they were dealt with;
- users' satisfaction; and
- actions taken as a result.

- Sending information from complaints to policy makers.
- Using Internet
- Having complaints reviewed by someone not responsible for the person or service complained about

##### Summing up the features of a good complaints system

- easy to access and well publicised;
- speedy - with fixed time limits for action and keeping people informed of progress;
- confidential - to protect staff and those who complain;
- informative - providing information to management so that services can be improved;
- simple to understand and use;
- fair - with a full procedure for investigations;
- effective - dealing with all points raised and providing suitable remedies; and
- regularly monitored and audited - to make sure that it is effective and improved.