08 NovWhy the compliments and complaints policy matters
Having a compliments and complaints policy in an early childhood setting is important for maintaining open communication between families and staff, promoting a positive and supportive learning environment, and improving the quality of care provided to children.
Compliments and complaints policies provide a clear and transparent process for families to provide feedback to the early years service about their experiences. Positive feedback can help to build staff morale and reinforce practices that are working well. On the other hand, complaints can highlight areas for improvement and provide an opportunity for the early years service to address any concerns.
A well-designed compliments and complaints policy should include the following.
- Clear and accessible feedback channels: to provide families with multiple channels for providing feedback, such as in-person, email, or online feedback forms. Feedback channels should be easy to use and readily accessible to families.
- Confidentiality: ensure that all feedback is treated confidentially and with respect. Families should feel comfortable providing feedback without fear of retribution.
- Timely response: you should include a timeframe for responding to feedback, such as within a certain number of days. Staff should acknowledge the feedback and take appropriate action, where necessary.
- Continuous improvement: outline how feedback will be used to improve the quality of care provided. This can include identifying trends in feedback and making changes to practices or policies to address issues that arise.
Having a compliments and complaints policy in place demonstrates a commitment to quality care and continuous improvement. It can also help to build trust and foster positive relationships between families and staff, leading to a more supportive and collaborative learning environment for children.
Notifiable complaints
When a complaint has been assessed as ‘notifiable’, the approved provider must notify the Department of Education (DE) of the complaint. The approved provider will investigate the complaint and take any actions deemed necessary, in addition to responding to requests from and assisting with any investigation by DE.
DE will investigate all complaints it receives about a service where it is alleged that the health, safety or wellbeing of any child within the service may have been compromised, or that there may have been a contravention of the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 and the Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011.
Does your service have an up-to-date Compliments and Complaints policy?
ELAA’s PolicyWorks catalogue provides easy to use templates to assist early childhood education and care services to contextualise and update policies to meet legislative, regulatory and funding requirements.
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