AMIDA Action for More Independence and Dignity in Accommodation COMPLAINTS POLICY Ross House, 1st Floor, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000 Telephone: 9650 2722 Fax: 9654 8575 E mail: amida@infoxchange.net.au Reviewed: March/ April 2010 Amended 20th April 2010 Approved 8th June 2010 ? What is a Complaint? ? AMIDA is an advocacy service for people with disabilities. We welcome feedback (good and bad). Complaints help to improve our services A complaint is when you tell someone you are not happy about something and why. It is when you tell a service you are not happy with the job they have done for you. It is OK to make a complaint! If you have any feedback, or you are not happy with AMIDA we encourage you to tell us about this. You have a right to make a complaint. If you want to, you can have an advocate to support you in making a complaint. By making a complaint you are helping to sort out a problem and you are also helping AMIDA to make our services better for everyone. You could also ask for an apology, an explanation about something we did, changes to the way we work, change of a decision we made, disciplinary action, mediation or referral to an external body for investigation. ? What is the Complaints Policy ? The Complaints Policy explains the steps you and AMIDA go through to have a complaint or problem sorted out. ? Who can use the Complaints Policy ? • Someone using AMIDA’s service • The Committee or one of its members • A member of AMIDA • Volunteer workers or students Your Rights to Information and Help to Make a Complaint • You have a right to talk about things you are not happy with • You have a right to make a complaint without worrying about being hassled or picked on for making the complaint. • You have a right to be respected and to be listened to when you are talking about your own opinions or feelings • You have a right to a copy of AMIDA’s Constitution and policies which explain the way we work • You have a right to see and have a copy of your file. • You have a right to have your own copy of this Complaints Policy • You have a right to get help from other groups outside AMIDA including involving an advocate If you are not happy about something at AMIDA you can try to resolve it yourself, but you don’t have to: • You can talk to the person you have the problem with. You might be able to work things out for yourselves • You can ask someone else to help you talk to the person you have the problem with. This could be a person or an advocate that you have chosen yourself • You can talk to an AMIDA worker who can help you to try to resolve it. • If this still doesn’t work and you want to take the complaint further: You can make a complaint in writing. You do not have to try to sort it out yourself first if you don’t want to. You can make a complaint in writing straight away if you want to! Making a Complaint 1 • You can make your complaint to anyone at AMIDA. This person could be:- a rights worker the Chairperson a Committee member • Tell the person what you are unhappy about and why you are unhappy. • You can also talk to someone from outside AMIDA and get them to help you make a complaint. This could be a friend or an advocate. • At the end of this section there is a list of groups who can help with complaints. 2 • You will be asked to fill in a Complaints Form. • This form will help AMIDA to make sure that something is done about your problem. • The person you speak to will talk to you about your complaint and how it will be handled according to this policy. 3 • Your complaint will be kept as confidential as possible. Only the people involved in your complaint will know about it and we will tell you who they are. • If the complaint is about someone at AMIDA doing something against the law, we will have to inform the authorities. 4 • AMIDA will take your complaint seriously. • Within 5 working days you will get a letter from AMIDA to arrange a meeting with you. 5 • At this meeting we will talk about your complaint. • We will work out with you an agreed time frame for handling your complaint. In most cases the time taken will be no more than 15 working days. • You will be told what will happen next. • You are very welcome to bring a friend or an advocate to this meeting to support you. 6 • Some complaints may be very serious. Examples of very serious complaints are assault, theft, and sexual assault. • If your complaint is about something against the law, you should choose to go to the Police for help. 7 • You will be contacted and given an outcome to your complaint • If you are unhappy with the outcome or the way your complaint was handled by AMIDA you can contact the Complaints Resolution and Referral Service and the Commonwealth Ombudsman. Processes AMIDA will follow The complaints policy is to be provided in appropriate formats and languages Workers and Committee are to be trained in using the policy The AMIDA representative receiving the complaint will seek to appoint the most appropriate person to investigate the complaint. They will complete the complaint process within 15 working days. Any person involved in investigating and resolving the complaint must not be named in the complaint. They must be free of any conflict of interest. If an AMIDA worker is identified in the complaint they have a right to be informed of the nature of the complaint. They are to be given an opportunity to respond fully and be represented. Fairness will be the guiding principle using facts and respect. The person investigating should inform the complainant of the process and their rights under it including the right to timelines, fairness, and safety from discrimination or retribution. They will interview witnesses and assure them of confidentiality and safety from retribution. They will explain the outcome to the person complaining and any person identified in the complaint giving reasons, remedies and action to be taken. If AMIDA policies are found to have been breached corrective action may be recommended. This will be determined by the Committee of management and must be in line with the seriousness of the breach and any other factors If after consideration there are grounds for believing the complaint is unfair and unfounded then the person complaining needs to be told of the decision and reasons for this decision. AMIDA will explain to the person about right of review by another body. If a person is dissatisfied with the complaints process they have the right to complain to the Complaints Resolution and Referral Service and Commonwealth Ombudsman. A confidential register of complaints will be kept by AMIDA including outcomes of all complaints. This is to be completed by the person investigating the complaint. Where a complaint against AMIDA involves allegations of criminal activity, breaches of legislation or regulation, AMIDA will promptly refer the complaint to the appropriate authority. Eg. The Police or government department A Useful reference is the Good Practice Guide by the Ombudsman Victoria 2006 AMIDA COMPLAINTS FORM Name of person filling in the complaint form Address Telephone/ Contact No If you are making a complaint on behalf of somebody else what is their name and contact details If you are filling this form in for someone else does the person know you are complaining on their behalf? What is your relationship to the person on whose behalf you are filling in this form (eg parent, advocate, carer etc)? If you wish to use an advocate or support person to help you complain what is their name and contact details What is the complaint? (Please add more pages if you need to) What outcome are you seeking? The signature of the person making the complaint Date (This form is confidential –we will keep it secret.) Please return this form to the AMIDA office Ross House 247 Flinders Lane Melbourne 3000 addressed to either the Committee of management or the project workers AMIDA will call you within five days of receiving your complaint to arrange a meeting with you to discuss how we will sort out your complaint. Other Groups Who Can Help You with Complaints Government Services Complaints Resolution and Free call: 1800 880 052 Referral Service TTY free call: 1800 301 130 The CRSS is a service that Fax: 02 8412 7199 helps people with a disability sort Postal Address out complaints about disability PO Box 126 employment and advocacy services St Leonards NSW 1590 funded by the Commonwealth Dept of Family, Community Housing Services and Indigenous Affairs Commonwealth Ombudsmans Office Freecall 1300 362 072 Fax 02 6276 0123 Email: ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au GPO Box 442 Canberra ACT 2601 Office of Public Advocate and Ph: 1300 309 337 Community Visitors Program TTY: 1300 305 612 FAX: 1300 787 510 Level 1, 204 Lygon Street Carlton 3053 Victorian Equal Opportunity Level 3, 204 Lygon Street & Human Rights Commission Carlton 3053 Phone: 1300 292 153 TTY: 1300 289 621 FAX: 1300 891 858 Email: enquiries@veohrc.vic.gov.au Dispute Settlement Centre Level 4/456 Lonsdale Street Of Victoria Melbourne 3000 Phone: 9603 8370 Toll Free: 1800 658 528 Email: dscv@justice.vic.gov.au Advocacy Groups Reinforce 2nd Floor, Ross House Self Advocacy group 247 Flinders Lane Melbourne 3000 Phone: 9650 7855 Email: reinforce@reinforce@org.au Legal Services Victoria Legal Aid 350 Queens Street Melbourne 3000 Phone: 9269 0234 Country: 1800 677 402 Villamanta Disability Rights 44 Bellerine Street Legal Service Geelong 3220 Phone: 1800 014 111 legal@villamanta.org.au Disability Discrimination Law 2nd Floor Ross House Service (DDLS) 247 Flinders Lane Melbourne 3000 Phone: 9654 8644 TTY: 9654 6817 Country: 1300 882 872 Email: info@ddls.org.au Police Phone: 000