CHAPTER
8 How
the Ombudsman helped people
Surmounting barriers
One of the more satisfying experiences in ombudsman work is when a person expresses
gratitude and says that they could not have dealt effectively with an issue
without the office's help. The causes vary—a person simply did not understand
the decision or government program, they felt they were not getting through
to the agency, or the agency told them that their case had been given a lower
priority than other pressing issues.
The Systems problems and Short staffing case studies provide two examples of
where the Ombudsman's office helped complainants to obtain payment of a financial
benefit that had been delayed, in one case by a systems problem and in the
other by a staffing problem. Other examples of complainants expressing gratitude
for ombudsman assistance are provided in the 'Looking
at the Agencies—Immigration'
section in Chapter 7.
CASE STUDY
|
Systems problems
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Ms L complained to our office
when she was advised that approximately $12,000 in childcare benefit
arrears could not be paid to her children's childcare centre for
some time because of the limitations of an agency's computer systems.
After we became involved in the matter, the agency overcame the
systems problems and paid the arrears. The owner of the childcare
centre was paid quickly, rather than having to wait until late
in 2006 for payment.
|
CASE STUDY
|
Short staffing
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Centrelink told Mr M that it
could not process his Newstart allowance claim for some time because
it was short-staffed in the lead-up to Christmas. After we started
to investigate Mr M's complaint, Centrelink arranged for staff
to work overtime so that the backlog of claims could be processed.
Mr M stated that he did not think that this would have happened
without the intervention of our office.
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9–Problem areas in government decision making
How
the Ombudsman helped people
