Evaluation of the Practices, Policies and Procedures of the Public Trustee

Summary

In the body's own words

1. Conclusion

   Many of the recommendations in this report would have the same effect but without the implementation of those recommendations, the risk of corruption, misconduct and maladministration will remain high.

   Report, page 82

Findings, opinions and statements

Allegations are not findings. A commission's finding or opinion of corrupt conduct or misconduct is not a finding that a person is guilty of a criminal offence, and the commissions say so in their reports.

No findings are reproduced in this record. This does not establish that the report contains none.

Recommendations 19

1. Recommendation 1

   That Public Trustee reviews managerial and team structures to achieve: • greater sharing of functions of officers by implementing shared caseloads or dividing responsibility by work streams or processes; • more extensive knowledge of officers’ files by team leaders; and • an increased capacity for auditing, for example, through the creation of a dedicated audit role.

   Report, page 11

2. Recommendation 2

   That Public Trustee provides greater support for staff by the executives: • being more visible and accessible; • increasing their understanding of the work performed by staff and the time it takes to complete certain tasks; • listening to staff and engaging in genuine consultation; • understanding and evaluating the impact of decisions upon staff workloads; • communicating the reasons for decisions; and • positively acknowledging and recognising staff for their work.

   Report, page 11

3. Recommendation 3

   That, in the course of conducting the two yearly reviews of policy documents, Public Trustee makes the documents more readable by removing duplication and by using consistent language.

   Report, page 11

4. Recommendation 4

   That Public Trustee organises the policy documents on Public Trustee’s intranet so that they can be browsed by topic or searched using the existing search function.

   Report, page 11

5. Recommendation 5

   That, unless the cost of creating and maintaining hyperlinks is prohibitive, Public Trustee inserts hyperlinks to forms, templates and policy documents within the policy documents that are available on Public Trustee’s intranet.

   Report, page 11

6. Recommendation 6

   That Public Trustee conducts random checks or an audit of key controls and high risk areas.

   Report, page 11

7. Recommendation 7

   That, as and when integrated electronic systems for core business functions become available, Public Trustee changes the practices with a view to: • reducing duplicated data entry; • reducing the use of paper; • recording approvals; • allowing for workflows; • preserving crucial approvals, invoices and vouchers presented for payment in a form which limits and monitors subsequent editing; • managing contracts in a proper and timely fashion; • storing all information relevant to a file to create a single source of truth; • restricting and logging access to and editing of sensitive information; • protecting against cyber-threats; and • facilitating the provision of information to customers through an online portal.

   Report, page 11

8. Recommendation 8

   That until the above electronic systems can be funded and implemented Public Trustee maximises the use of Public Trustee’s existing electronic systems and ensures consistent use of them.

   Report, page 12

9. Recommendation 9

   That Public Trustee reviews present practices in relation to the storing of confidential identity information to reduce the risk of corruption, misconduct and maladministration in public administration in relation to the potential misuse of that information.

   Report, page 12

10. Recommendation 10

    That Public Trustee ensures that relevant training is provided to all staff who start a new role, regardless of whether they are new to Public Trustee or have moved from another role within Public Trustee.

    Report, page 12

11. Recommendation 11

    That Public Trustee reviews the manner in which Public Trustee delivers training to staff to ensure consistency.

    Report, page 12

12. Recommendation 12

    That Public Trustee reviews telephone communication practices with a view to increasing compliance with Public Trustee’s Customer Service Standard.

    Report, page 12

13. Recommendation 13

    That Public Trustee makes direct contact with Public Trustee’s new Personal Estates customers as soon as possible after appointment.

    Report, page 12

14. Recommendation 14

    That Public Trustee takes active steps to foster a culture of recognition and reward rather than the existing culture of scrutiny and blame.

    Report, page 12

15. Recommendation 15

    That Public Trustee changes existing practices in relation to allocating files within the Personal Estates and Estate Services sections to sufficiently take into account the complexity of the file and the current workloads of the officers who may be allocated the file.

    Report, page 12

16. Recommendation 16

    That Public Trustee reviews the arrangements for the initial visit to customers’ properties and the securing of estate assets to minimise the risk of corruption, misconduct and maladministration in public administration.

    Report, page 12

17. Recommendation 17

    That Public Trustee ensures that any audit of the securities room is conducted by two persons who have not had any involvement with the receipting of security items or the storage of those items in the securities room.

    Report, page 12

18. Recommendation 18

    That Public Trustee enters into written contracts with service providers which are frequently engaged on behalf of customers and ensures that the contracts contain appropriate conditions to uphold Public Trustee’s legal obligations.

    Report, page 13

19. Recommendation 19

    That Public Trustee implements more stringent procedures to limit access to information about real estate in customers’ estates prior to its sale.

    Report, page 13

Published responses

No published response was found.

Coverage

This publisher

• Office for Public Integrity: publishes only its annual reports (excluded); no OPI report or statement records.
• Since October 2021 the Commission does not make findings of corrupt conduct; most records have no findings.
• Government and agency responses are recorded only where the Commission's page links them or the report reproduces them; implementation status is not published by the Commission as structured data.
• Scanned reports without a text layer are not read (no OCR); their recommendations stay not_extracted.
• Recommendations are extracted only from numbered 'Recommendation N' lists; reports that set out recommendations in prose, tables or unnumbered lists keep recommendations_status not_extracted.
• Findings are extracted only from investigation reports that state them in the Commissioner's own words (Oakden 2018, Gillman 2015); public statements are not read for findings.