Professional conduct, privacy, and policy responsibilities
QA2, QA4, QA6, and QA7
Policies, procedures, compliments, complaints, and feedback
Policies, procedures, compliments, complaints, and feedback help NERPSA identify what is working well, what needs attention, and what may require action to support safe, fair, consistent, and child-focused practice.
Listen
Respond respectfully
Listen, thank the person for raising the matter, stay calm, and avoid dismissing, minimising, debating, blaming, or promising an outcome.
Record
Keep it factual
Record what was raised, what was said, what was observed, what was done, and who was notified, using the correct NERPSA process.
Escalate
Use the right pathway
Different concerns need different pathways. Child safety concerns and urgent risks must be escalated promptly.
Policies and procedures
Current policies
Policies are practical instructions, not just documents
NERPSA policies and procedures explain how legal, regulatory, child safe, quality, and organisational expectations are put into practice.
Staff are expected to use the current published version of NERPSA policies and procedures. Staff should not rely on saved, printed, downloaded, or old copies unless NERPSA has specifically directed them to do so.
If a staff member cannot find the right policy, form, or process, they should ask before creating their own process or relying on informal instructions.
If a child’s safety or immediate wellbeing is affected, act first
If something affects a child’s safety, immediate wellbeing, supervision, medical needs, protection, or urgent risk, the response should not wait while staff look for a policy. Keep children safe, seek help, and escalate promptly.
Policy areas
Key policy areas staff need to know
Staff do not need to memorise every policy word-for-word. Staff do need to know where current policies are located, what they mean in practice, and when to seek guidance.
Different concerns need different pathways
Pathway thinking
Not every concern is handled the same way
A family complaint, child safety concern, urgent risk, privacy breach, employment issue, conduct concern, incident, and uncertainty about a procedure may all need different first steps.
Staff do not need to decide everything alone. The key is to respond safely, keep children protected, record factually, and seek guidance through the correct NERPSA pathway.
Feedback
May include suggestions, ideas, service experience, positive comments, or requests for improvement. Pass it on through the service pathway.
Complaint
May involve dissatisfaction, concern, or a request for action. It should be listened to, recorded, referred, and managed through the Compliments and Complaints pathway.
Child safety concern
May involve harm, risk, disclosure, family violence, unsafe practice, concerning adult behaviour, or reportable conduct. Escalate promptly through the child safety pathway.
Urgent risk
May involve immediate danger, missing or unaccounted-for child, urgent medical need, unsafe collection, or emergency. Respond to immediate safety first.
Privacy issue
May involve information shared with the wrong person, lost documents, digital error, personal device use, or unauthorised access. Report promptly.
Employment or conduct matter
May involve workplace behaviour, performance, staff conflict, professional conduct, or Code of Conduct concerns. Use the appropriate workplace or conduct pathway.
Response guide
When a concern or complaint is raised
Open this guide for practical response steps. The quick rule is: listen respectfully, record factually, protect privacy, and escalate through the right pathway.
Compliments and positive feedback
Positive feedback
Feedback helps services grow
Compliments and positive feedback are valuable. They help recognise strong practice, build staff morale, strengthen relationships with families and communities, and support continuous improvement.
If a family or community member shares positive feedback, pass it on through the service pathway so it can be acknowledged and shared appropriately.
Concerns and complaints
Take concerns seriously
Concerns should be handled calmly and fairly
A concern or complaint may relate to a child’s experience, communication, privacy, staffing, supervision, behaviour guidance, fees, inclusion, safety, service operations, policies, procedures, or another matter.
Staff should not ignore, minimise, dismiss, or try to manage concerns informally if a formal pathway is required. Follow the Compliments and Complaints Policy and make sure concerns are recorded, referred, or escalated correctly.
Complaints and concerns
Complaints must be taken seriously
Complaints and concerns may be raised by children, families, staff, students, volunteers, visitors, contractors, community members, or other people connected to the service.
A complaint may relate to:
child safety;
adult conduct;
supervision;
staffing;
privacy;
communication;
inclusion;
discrimination, racism, or cultural safety;
family concerns;
service operations;
policy or procedure concerns;
harmful sexual behaviours;
quality of education and care.
Urgent action
If the complaint involves immediate risk to a child
Staff must respond to the immediate safety issue first. Keep the child safe, seek help, follow the relevant emergency or child safety pathway, and call 000 if there is immediate danger.
Listen respectfully
Give the person space to explain the concern. Stay calm, avoid interrupting, and thank them for raising it.
Do not promise an outcome
You can explain that the matter will be passed on or managed through the correct pathway, but do not promise a result you cannot control.
Record factually
Record what was raised, what was said, what was reported, what was observed, what action was taken, and who was notified.
Protect privacy
Only discuss the matter with people who need the information for service, safety, legal, regulatory, workplace, or organisational reasons.
Child safety concerns are urgent
Child safety
Do not wait if the concern involves child safety
If a concern involves child safety, harm, reportable conduct, family violence, unsafe supervision, concerning adult conduct, or immediate risk, follow the child safety reporting pathway immediately.
Complaints and feedback processes must not delay urgent child safety action. If a child is in immediate danger, call 000.
Privacy, conduct, and employment matters
Privacy concern
Privacy issues need prompt reporting
If a concern involves information shared incorrectly, a lost document, digital error, personal device use, unauthorised access, or possible privacy breach, report it through the correct NERPSA pathway promptly.
Workplace pathway
Employment matters use workplace processes
Staff grievances, employment concerns, performance matters, workplace conflict, conduct concerns, and staffing matters should be managed through the appropriate NERPSA workplace pathway.
Continuous improvement
Improvement
Feedback can make practice clearer and safer
Policies and procedures are reviewed over time to reflect legislation, regulations, quality guidance, service needs, feedback, incidents, complaints, and continuous improvement.
Staff contribute to improvement by following current procedures, raising unclear or unsafe processes, and providing constructive feedback when something can be made clearer or safer.
NERPSA policies connected to this section
Policy connection
Policies that support feedback, complaints, and safe pathways
Key connected policies include Compliments and Complaints, Code of Conduct, Child Safe Environment and Wellbeing, Privacy and Confidentiality, Incident, Injury, Trauma and Illness, Supervision of Children, Staffing, Safe Use of Digital Technologies and Online Environments, Interactions with Children, Delivery and Collection of Children, and Acceptance and Refusal of Authorisations.
These policies support decisions about feedback, complaints, child safety concerns, conduct concerns, privacy issues, incidents, supervision, workplace matters, family concerns, service operations, and escalation.
Useful resources
NERPSA Child Safe Environment
Current NERPSA child safe environment and wellbeing policy.
Open policy
Required induction activity
Use the right policy pathway
Choose one concern that could be raised at a service, such as a supervision concern, privacy issue, family complaint, child safety concern, conduct concern, incident, or uncertainty about a procedure.
Think about the first safe step, which policy or pathway may guide the response, and who you would speak with if the matter needed support or escalation.
Optional extension activities
- Consider why different concerns may need different pathways. A family complaint, child safety concern, urgent risk, privacy breach, employment issue, and conduct concern may not all be handled in the same way. If something affects a child’s safety or immediate wellbeing, the response should not wait while you look for a policy.
- Choose one service issue and map the difference between feedback, a complaint, a child safety concern, a staff conduct concern, and an urgent risk. Think about how your first response may change depending on the type and seriousness of the issue.
Responding well supports trust
Listen respectfully, record factually, protect privacy, use the correct pathway, and escalate child safety, urgent risk, conduct, privacy, or serious concerns promptly.