South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon, a member of the Commons public accounts committee has said that the Department of Work and Pensions could be missing early warnings of poor service, because it only records one in five of the complaints it receives.  Mr Bacon said:  “Last year, the Department for Work and Pensions only recorded one in five of the complaints it received”
In 2007-08 Jobcentre Plus, The Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service recorded 70,000 complaints but the NAO estimates that agencies may only be recording  around one in five of the complaints made by customers.

“These complaints may have been addressed quickly and easily, but they could also have provided a warning of more serious problems ahead.  By not recording them, the Department may well be missing the bigger picture”. 

"The DWP needs to get better at recording complaints”. 

Mr Bacon was speaking as the National Audit Office (NAO) published its report into how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and its agencies handle the complaints they receive. 

The report finds that a potentially large volume of complaints are dealt with but not recorded.  

Consequently the DWP and its agencies could miss early warnings of poor services, systematic errors, or problems with its processes.  

23 July 2008
 

See also:::
NAO REPORT Complaints handling within the DWP