Making a complaint about Employment and Pre-Employment Services

This page sets out how to make a complaint about a provider or about the employment or pre-employment services we deliver.

On this page:

If you want to know more about our complaints process, please read our Complaints service factsheet for individuals or Complaints service factsheet for employers.

Before you make a complaint

If you have received a demerit or your payment has been put on hold and you don’t agree, you should contact your provider. If you’re with Workforce Australia Online, you should contact the Digital Services Contact Centre by phone on 1800 314 677 or by email at digitalservices@dewr.gov.au.

You have the right to a review if you don’t agree with a decision that affects you.

If you don’t agree with a decision made by your provider or the Digital Services Contact Centre, you should discuss this with them first. If you’re still not satisfied, or you don’t feel comfortable contacting them, you can call the National Customer Service Line by phone on 1800 805 260. They will help you request a review of the decision.

If you don’t agree with a decision made by Services Australia about your Centrelink payment, you can ask for a review of the decision. Visit the Services Australia website to read about reviews and appeals.

What you can make a complaint about

You can make a complaint about a provider or about the employment or pre-employment services we deliver, including Workforce Australia and Parent Pathways.

Your complaint may include concerns about:

  • your provider, the department, or the quality of services you receive
  • your eligibility for a service, or ability to change providers
  • how you were treated or someone’s behaviour
  • your mutual obligations, such as job searches or appointments
  • compliance actions, such as a demerit or payment hold (complaints about payment cancellations should be raised with Services Australia)
  • access to funding, including the Employment Fund or a Wage Subsidy
  • our digital service systems, such as a website or app
  • how we or a provider handled a previous complaint
  • how we or a provider handled your personal information.

This is not a complete list. You can make a complaint about any aspect of your experience with employment and pre-employment services.

How to make a complaint

There are a few ways you can make a complaint about a provider or about the employment and pre-employment services we deliver.

If you're making a complaint on behalf of someone else, make sure you have their permission first.

Online form

The simplest way to provide feedback or make a complaint is to use our online complaints form. It’s easy to use, and available any time. You can remain anonymous if you want to.

Lodge a complaint online

Phone

You can call the National Customer Service Line (NCSL) to make a complaint. Read more about the NCSL service guarantee. This phone service is open from 9 am to 7 pm AEST/AEDT Monday to Friday. It’s closed on national public holidays.

If you are participating in Employment Services and Parent Pathways, call 1800 805 260.

If you are an employer, call the employer hotline on 13 17 15.

Post

You can post your complaint to:

The NCSL Manager
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
GPO Box 9828
Canberra ACT 2601

If your complaint is about another agency, government department or non-government organisation, please send your feedback directly to them.

If you need help to make a complaint

These services are available if you need help to contact us.

National Relay Service

If you’re deaf or find it hard to hear or speak on the phone, the National Relay Service can help. A Relay Officer can join your call and:

  • change voice to text, or text to voice
  • translate Auslan to English, or English to Auslan
  • stay on the call with you to help.

You can use the NRS to contact to us between 9 am and 7 pm AEST/AEDT, Monday to Friday (except public holidays).

To call us using this service:

  1. Contact the NRS via one of the NRS call channels.
  2. Give them our National Customer Service Line phone number
    1800 805 260.

Visit the Access Hub website for more information Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National).

You can use TIS National to speak to us between 9 am and 7 pm AEST/AEDT, Monday to Friday (except public holidays)

To phone us using an interpreter:

  1. Call TIS National on 13 14 50.
  2. Ask for an interpreter in your preferred language.
  3. Ask TIS National to call us on the number 1800 805 260 for the National Customer Service Line. TIS National will phone us so you and your interpreter can speak to us
  4. TIS National will phone us so you and your interpreter can speak to us. 

How we’ll handle your complaint

We’ll confirm receipt when we receive your complaint and assess it to make sure we are the right people to respond. If someone else should respond, we will help you get in contact with them.

We’ll address your complaint at the first point of contact if we can. This may be by phone call or in a reply email or letter. Sometimes we can find a solution early by providing more information about a process or policy, or by facilitating a transfer to a new provider.

We’ll ask you for more information if we can’t address your complaint immediately. If we receive your complaint via our webform, or by email or post, we’ll contact you for more information once it has been read and entered in our complaints system. We will work to understand what happened and if something different should have happened.

We take each complaint seriously and are committed to deliver a complaints service that is:

  • Fair – focused on achieving fair outcomes for each complaint. We’ll handle each complaint fairly, confidentially, and with respect for all parties involved.
  • Accessible – easy for you to make a complaint. You can make a complaint online, by email, over the phone or by letter.
  • Efficient – prompt in addressing your complaint and communicating proactively with you. We’ll let you know if we need more time or if there is a delay.
  • Transparent – open and honest with you about your complaint. We’ll keep you informed at each stage of the complaints process and explain the outcome of your complaint, including any findings that we make.

We’ll keep in contact with you throughout the complaint process and advise you of any delays in resolving your complaint.

Possible outcomes for your complaint

When we resolve your complaint, we will provide you with an outcome. This will include a statement about what we found and what has been done in response to your complaint.

Outcomes for your complaint may include:

  • an apology
  • transfer to a new provider or employment consultant
  • training for provider, employment consultant or department staff
  • updates to a policy or process
  • referral to another service
  • removal of a demerit or payment hold
  • updates to your job plan or mutual obligations
  • an explanation of why something happened or did not happen
  • an explanation of our services
  • an explanation of your mutual obligations
  • how to contact another agency for the right assistance
  • help to complete a task or access a service
  • approval of a request you made.

If you do not provide enough information for us to investigate, or we cannot find evidence to support your complaint, action may not be taken. We will explain our reasons for the outcome of your complaint. 

You are always able to provide additional information or evidence to support a complaint you have made.

Request a complaint review

If you disagree with a decision we have made about your complaint, you can ask us to review your complaint outcome.

Send us your complaint review request by email or post. Your complaint review request must explain why you believe the original complaint outcome was wrong and provide any relevant supporting information or evidence. We will assess your complaint review request and let you know if we will change the outcome.

If we have undertaken a complaint review and you still disagree with our decision, you can contact the Commonwealth Ombudsman to seek further consideration of the complaint by:

Complaints Reports

The reports aim to provide transparency and give insight on participants’ experiences in employment and pre-employment services, identify changes in complaints volumes and topics, highlight issues and inform improvements to the services we deliver.

Read the Complaints Reports

Privacy statement

Your personal information is protected by law, including the Privacy Act 1988, and is collected by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (the department), through its complaints channels, for the purposes of investigating, resolving and referring complaints.

Personal information includes your name, phone number, email address, date of birth, residential address, employment details such as job title, work address and contact details, and if you have one, Job Seeker ID and Centrelink Customer Reference Number.

The department will use this personal information to:

  • conduct checks to verify your identity or the identity of a nominee, if relevant
  • investigate and resolve complaints
  • analyse, and deidentify and report, complaints data
  • conduct a satisfaction survey after resolution of a complaint.

The department will disclose this personal information to:

  • refer complaints to another area of the department or external agency where appropriate or relevant
  • seek information from third parties, including providers, to help investigate and resolve complaints
  • provide the outcome of the investigation to an entity or person who referred a complaint to the department
  • if permitted under the Privacy Act, disclose identified complaints data to relevant agencies
  • if a complaint involves an individual under 18 years of age, notify the department’s Corporate Governance Team of the complaint and its outcome, consistent with the Department’s Child Safety Policy. 

If we are unable to collect, use and disclose personal information, this may affect our ability to fully investigate and resolve complaints, or to refer complaints we receive to the appropriate area or agency to be addressed.

If you provide sensitive information with your complaint, you will be taken to have consented to the department’s collection.

Further information about how the department will manage your personal information, including how to access and correct your information, can be found in the department’s privacy policy.

If you think the department or a provider may have breached your privacy, you can make a privacy complaint using the details on the department’s privacy contact and complaints webpage.