Customer Complaint Management Checklist for Local Government
A structured checklist for managing community member complaints from initial receipt through to resolution and follow-up, ensuring a consistent and professional approach.
Supports Local Government Act compliance, freedom of information requirements, and public accountability standards.
Complete Checklist
- 1Acknowledge receipt of the complaint within the service level timeframeCritical
- 2Record all complaint details including date, community member, nature of issue, and desired outcomeCritical
- 3Assign the complaint to the appropriate person for investigation and resolution
- 4Investigate the complaint thoroughly and gather all relevant factsCritical
- 5Determine the root cause of the issue that led to the complaint
- 6Develop a resolution that is fair and proportionate to the issue
- 7Communicate the proposed resolution to the community member and seek their agreementCritical
- 8Implement the agreed resolution within the committed timeframe
- 9Follow up with the community member to confirm they are satisfied with the resolution
- 10Implement corrective actions to prevent the same issue from recurringCritical
- 11Update the complaint register with the resolution details and outcome
- 12Classify the complaint by type and severity for trend analysis
- 13Share the learnings from the complaint with the team to improve awareness
- 14Review complaint handling timelines and identify any breaches of service levels
- 15Close the complaint record and archive the documentation
Frequently Asked Questions
How do we use complaint data to improve the council?
Track and categorise all complaints to identify patterns. Analyse the root causes of the most frequent complaint types. Implement systemic changes to address the underlying issues. Monitor whether complaint volumes decrease after improvements are made. Share complaint trends with the team regularly and include complaint reduction targets in quality objectives. A declining complaint rate is one of the best indicators of improving quality.
What is a good response time target for community member complaints?
Acknowledge all complaints within 24 hours. Aim to resolve simple complaints within 48 hours and more complex issues within five to ten council days. If resolution will take longer, keep the community member informed of progress at regular intervals. The speed of your initial acknowledgement often matters more to the community member than the speed of the final resolution.
How should staff be trained to handle community member complaints?
Train staff to listen actively without interrupting, empathise with the community member's experience, apologise for the inconvenience, gather all relevant information, and explain the next steps clearly. Empower front-line staff to resolve simple complaints immediately where possible. For more complex issues, train them on how to escalate appropriately without making the community member feel dismissed.
Need help implementing these checks into your daily operations?
Our team can build custom checklists integrated into your daily operations workflow.