Press Release - Department for Work and Pensions:
Handling Customer Complaints
23 July 2008
Jobcentre Plus, The Pension Service and the Disability and
Carers Service provided services to 22 million customers in
2007-08, over 80 per cent of whom were satisfied with the services
they received. Nevertheless, there were 70,000 complaints recorded
in 2007-08. For those customers who do complain, the complaints
system is easily accessible and the majority of complaints are
handled directly by front-line staff. A report out today by the
National Audit Office, however, finds that over 40 per cent of
complainants remain dissatisfied, for a number of reasons relating
both to the complaints process and to the outcome of their
complaint.
Recorded complaints probably account for some 20 per cent of all
complaints received by Agencies. There is a risk, therefore, that
difficulties in recording complaints may mean that Agencies could
miss early warnings of poor service, systematic errors, or problems
with their processes. The report also found significant
dissatisfaction with how complaints were handled. The main areas of
dissatisfaction were timeliness, knowledge of staff and adequacy of
response given to customers’ complaints, though Agencies’ response
times range from 72 to 99 per cent of their target response
times.
Improving the quality of responses could prevent complaints being
unnecessarily escalated. Complaints handled effectively by
front-line staff can be up to 40 times cheaper than those escalated
up to the final stage of the internal process. There is, however,
no consistently applied Department wide quality checking of
responses given to complaints to determine whether they are handled
effectively by staff across the three Agencies.
Cost data on complaints is limited, but the NAO estimates that the
Agencies spent between £4.7 million and £6.2 million responding to
their recorded complaints during 2007-08. This figure could be up
to £11 million when both recorded and non-recorded complaints are
considered. The Department also made compensation payments of £3.6
million during this period, as a result of complaints.
Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office, said:
“Whilst there is general satisfaction with the services customers
receive from the Department and its Agencies, there is scope to
handle complaints better. The three Agencies need to record
accurately customer complaints so that they can identify where they
are not meeting customer needs and can improve services
accordingly. Agencies also need to do more to understand why some
customers are dissatisfied with the handling of their
complaints.”
Notes for Editors:
- Jobcentre Plus, The Pension Service and the Disability and
Carers Service are Executive Agencies of The Department for Work
and Pensions. In April 2008 The Pension Service and the Disability
and Carers Service merged to become The Pension, Disability and
Carers Service.
- The three Agencies use a three-tiered internal complaints
handling process that enables unresolved issues to be escalated
from front-line staff up to the appropriate Agency Chief Executive.
Customers can also seek redress through the Independent Case
Examiner as well as the Parliamentary and Health Service
Ombudsman
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website, which is at www.nao.org.uk. Hard
copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702
3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim Burr, is the head of
the National Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He and the
NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 38/08
All enquiries to Donna Watson,
NAO Press Office: Tel: 020 7798 7038
Mobile: 07917 555 388