BackOn 20 January 2022, the Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman, Penny McKay, published a report, The Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ communication with veterans making claims for compensation. The report is the result of an investigation into the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ (DVA) administrative framework to support its communication with veterans making claims for compensation for injuries or conditions related to their service, including DVA’s approach to communicating with and assisting at-risk veterans.
The investigation did not identify any significant concerns about DVA’s policy and procedural framework for managing communication with veterans during the claim process but identified some opportunities to improve DVA’s current approach.
The report makes 8 recommendations focused on improving transparency of information made available to the veteran community in relation to the claims process and improving guidance for staff to support effective communication with veterans.
The recommendations made in the report are relevant to many government agencies and incorporate the following principles of good public administration:
- Agencies should clearly communicate to individuals who access their services what they should expect from the agency. For service delivery agencies, publishing expected or current average timeframes for completing certain administrative actions minimises uncertainty for individuals and may reduce complaints.
- Internal policies and procedures should support decision makers to make consistent and transparent decisions. Policies and procedures setting out how agencies should engage with individuals accessing their services should explicitly set out what information needs to be communicated to, or sought from, an individual to support effective service delivery.
- Agencies should ensure information and services are provided in a non‑discriminatory accessible manner. This includes meeting digital service standards to ensure online government services are simple, clear, and fast for all users.
A link to the report can be found HERE.
Source: Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Australia
