I want to make a complaint or report abuse

Complaints Resolution and Referral Service

The Complaints Resolution and Referral Service (CRRS) on 1800 880 052 provides resources and information sessions for service providers.

The CRRS proactively engages with service providers to help them improve through training and skills transfer. The CRRS helps service providers to:

• adopt best-practice policy and practice
• provide training and support to enable them to resolve complaints internally

The CRRS resolves complaints throughout Australia and is able to identify issues affecting services and their clients. Our staff liaise with the Department of Social Services to ensure they are aware of the concerns (e.g. funding, unmet needs, support services).

National Disability Abuse and Neglect Hotline

The National Disability Abuse and Neglect Hotline (the Hotline) 1800 880 052 is for reporting abuse or neglect of people with disability.

The hotline works with callers to find appropriate ways of dealing with reports of abuse or neglect through referral, information and support.

The hotline will remain impartial. It does not take sides and does not advocate on anyone’s behalf.

If a caller reports abuse or neglect in a government-funded service, the hotline will refer the report to the government body that funds the service. The funding body will investigate the report.

If a caller reports abuse or neglect in any other situation, the hotline will refer the report to an agency able to investigate or address the report e.g. an ombudsman or complaints-handling body.

Privacy collection notice

The Complaints Resolution and Referral Service is is operated on behalf of the Department of Social Services (department) by our contracted service provider, GL Resolution (our contracted service provider), (collectively referred to as CRRS, we or us) and will consider complaints made by clients of services funded by the department under the Disability Services Act 1986 (Cth).

The CRRS will handle your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles, the Department’s Privacy Policy | Department of Social Services and our contracted service providers’ Privacy Policy and Disclosure - GL Resolution.

What we collect

‘Personal information’ is any information or opinion about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information.

Sensitive information is a subset of personal information and includes information or opinion about a person’s:

Beliefs and legal information:

• political opinions
• membership of a political association
• religious beliefs or affiliations
• philosophical beliefs
• membership of a professional or trade association
• membership of a trade union
• sexual orientation or practices
• criminal record

Physical information:

• racial or ethnic origin
• health information including information about a disability
• genetic information that is not otherwise health information
• biometric information that is to be used for the purpose of automated biometric verification or biometric identification

We collect your personal information including your name, contact details, your date of birth and demographic, details of services that you have received and facts about your complaints including services that you have accessed or service providers you have connections with. We may also collect your sensitive information such as your ethnicity, your health including information about your disability, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or affiliation, memberships of a trade union or a professional or trade association.

We may need to collect further information from you in order to investigate your complaint. If you do not provide this additional information, it may prevent us from progressing your complaint. In some cases, it may mean the CRRS determines it is not possible to investigate your complaint further.

How we may collect your information

Usually, we will collect information directly from you or where you consent from your authorised person when you or they contact us by either phone or through the CRRS website. At times, we may also collect information about you from others if they have information relevant to your complaint.

Using and disclosing your personal information

The information you provide to the CRRS during the course of your matter will be used to assess your complaint and make enquiries or investigations into your complaint.

We may use and disclose your personal information, and the personal information of any other person that you provide, to contact you, or any person whose details you provide to investigate your complaint. Where you have complained about a service provider, we may disclose your details and the details of your complaint to that service provider to obtain more information to assist us in our investigation.

We may also disclose your information to other individuals or agencies who have information relevant to your complaint, if necessary.

We may provide your information to the department for the use of monitoring and reporting on the effectiveness of our service, investigating fraud or suspected misconduct, policy development and business planning for the CRRS.

You should also be aware that we may share your personal information if it is necessary to do this, to lessen or prevent a serious risk to the life, health of safety of any person, or to public health or safety. As mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse or neglect, we are required to report such abuse to the relevant law enforcement agency.

Information collected through our website

We use the GovCMS platform provided by the Department of Finance to run our website.

This means that when you contact us through our website, the Department of Finance may collect and use website analytics information about your activity on our website. The Department does this too. Read the Department’s Privacy Policy to learn more.

When you contact us through our website, the Department of Finance and its subcontractors may only access your personal information in the GovCMS platform if they have to do this to maintain or fix the platform. Some subcontractor staff may access the GovCMS platform from other countries.

More information

You can find more information about how we handle personal information by reading the Department’s Privacy Policy. This includes information about how we store your information, how to contact us to access or correct information about you, and your rights to make a complaint about how we handle your personal information.