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The Government "must do better" at communicating with the public when dealing with official complaints, a report has concluded.
In its 2023 annual report, the States of Jersey Complaints Panel highlighted poor communication by the Government as a recurring issue that has repeatedly "exacerbated situations" and eroded public trust.
In his foreword to the report, Complaints Panel Chair Geoffrey Crill called on the Government to improve the way it communicates and handles public grievances.
Pictured: The Panel is accountable to the States Assembly and considers complaints by the public against decisions taken by Ministers or civil servants.
He said: "It is just not good enough to blame a misunderstanding amongst officials as the reason for someone being ignored for months.
"The Government really must do better."
It was "another busy year" for the Panel in 2023, with 12 new formal complaints received during the year and an additional nine carried forward from 2022.
The Panel, which is accountable to the States Assembly and considers complaints against decisions by Ministers or civil servants, also received nine "informal" enquiries about complaints that were eventually not taken forward.
Pictured: The States of Jersey Complaints Panel held three hearings during 2023.
The Treasury and Health departments generated the most formal complaints with three each.
This was followed by the Social Security and Education departments which had two, with Planning and the Chief Minister's department having one complaint each.
Three complaints went to full hearings, all of which were upheld by the Panel.
Despite the criticism, the report acknowledged many Government employees who "recognise that complaints provide an opportunity to improve service delivery".
Pictured: The States of Jersey Complaints Panel's Annual Report for 2023 was published yesterday.
The report said the Panel recognised the "positive and swift" work done across "most" Government departments.
Mr Crill said: "Timely and reliable responses to the public are critical in establishing and maintaining trust in Government."
One "unprecedented" case which was resolved in 2023 involved a hearing being reconvened three times before a retired firefighter finally won his battle to have his pension entitlement re-evaluated.
Pictured: A retired firefighter in November won his battle to have his pension entitlement revalued after his complaint was upheld by the panel which rules on grievances against States departments.
This came after his pension was initially miscalculated after policy changes in 2018.
Despite the Panel upholding his complaint in 2020 and 2022, the Treasury Department challenged the Panel's jurisdiction before finally re-evaluating and providing appropriate pension benefits in February 2023 - but only after a third hearing.
Mr Crill said: "It should not be the case that justice is only served when someone fights doggedly against the system and that a Minister has to be told something three times before findings are accepted."
Another hearing criticised the Government's handling of its COVID-19 co-funded payroll support scheme for businesses.
The Panel found the eligibility rules around "monthly gross income" for self-employed applicants were poorly communicated.
Pictured: The Government’s co-funded payroll scheme was poorly communicated, should have been better ‘road-tested’ before it was introduced, and the Treasury was too quick to use the threat of legal action when it judged someone had been overpaid, according to the Complaints Panel.
This, the report said, led to some overpayments being made that then had to be reclaimed through "insensitive" debt recovery tactics.
While praising the scheme's intentions, the report said more "road testing" was needed and faulted the "insensitive" and "excessive" debt recovery methods used against recipients who made legitimate mistakes
The Panel said more should have been done to ensure the application process was clear to all and concluded that the threat of legal proceedings should have only been introduced as a last resort.
The States of Jersey Complaints Panel's year in summary...
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