Helping Public Authorities

The Ombudsman is committed to helping Western Australian public authorities to:

  • Improve the quality of their decision-making and administrative practices;
  • Provide high standards in handling complaints made to their organisation; and
  • Respond effectively to complaints made to the Ombudsman.

This section of the website offers guidance for agencies as to how these responsibilities can be met.

Good decision-making and administrative practices
The Ombudsman has developed guidelines to assist public authorities to strengthen their decision-making and administrative practices. These include:

Effective handling of complaints made to your organisation
The Ombudsman has developed a suite of guidelines to assist public authorities to develop effective internal complaints processes and to manage complaints that they receive.

Responding to complaints made to the Ombudsman
The Ombudsman provides independent and impartial handling of complaints made to the Office by members of the public. Guidelines are available to assist public authorities to respond to complaints and assist in their effective and timely resolution.

Whole of Government Complaints Management Policy
The Public Sector Commissioner's Circular 2009-27 Complaints Management, applies to public sector agencies and promotes effective complaints management in agencies across the sector. The Circular advises that an agency must have an appropriate complaints management system and inform its clients that they can contact an external party, such as the Ombudsman, if they are still dissatisfied after going through an internal complaints process.

The Ombudsman provides tools and guidance to assist agencies with their internal complaint handling role. Agencies can access these materials on the Guidelines and Information Sheets page of the Ombudsman's website.