Customer Advocate
Click here to download an Easy English version of the information on this page.
Providing the customer with a voice inside the Public Trustee
We’re committed to increasing transparency and accountability, and building trust and confidence in the services we provide.
As part of this commitment, we have established the Office of the Customer Advocate (OCA), an important initiative in supporting our customers, and a national first for trustee services in Australia.
The OCA focuses on advocacy and insight to deliver fair outcomes for Public Trustee customers that align with community expectations.
Advocacy
The Customer Advocate advocates for fair and equitable outcomes for customers of the Public Trustee.
The OCA’s role is to ensure that the customer’s interests are at the centre of everything we do – ensuring their views are considered when important decisions are made.
Advocacy also means helping us to apply fairness principles and community expectations to our decisions and actions.
The OCA has a customer support function that is available to use if you are having difficulties with getting results through the usual communication pathways.
While the OCA does not take the place of the Trust Officer / customer relationship, the OCA may be able to assist in instances where the customer:
- has experienced unforeseen or exceptional circumstances and requires special care, support, or assistance to understand, or progress through, a Public Trustee process
- requires a higher level of support that requires more one-on-one time than the usual staff member can provide (e.g. due to time constraints, difficulty of the customer to understand despite numerous attempts to explain)
- The customer is unable to be assisted through the Public Trustee’s usual processes
Insight
To give added insight into community expectations the OCA will work with stakeholder organisations, other agencies, and industry and field leaders to inform our actions, gather evidence and contribute to developing knowledge of contemporary practices.
The OCA will also regularly conduct reviews of Public Trustee services, policies, programs and procedures to identify systemic issues and opportunities for improvement.
Because of this, the OCA will be able to spot instances when there may have been unintended outcomes for groups of customers due to the decisions or actions of the Public Trustee. When this happens, the OCA will investigate to identify what needs to be done to avoid these types of issues happening again.
The OCA also facilitates the Public Trustee’s Independent Complaints Review Process.
The OCA can be contacted via email on customer.advocate@pt.qld.gov.au.