Reviews into hardship grants and communications

As part of our commitments in the enforceable undertaking, we have engaged external consultants to do two reviews; one into our hardship grants program and another into how we communicate with our customers.

We’re sharing the key insights and recommendations from both reviews to be transparent about where we have good foundations, and where we can improve.

We accept the findings of both reviews and are committed to acting on the recommendations for an improved end-to-end customer experience.

While we know there is more work to do to integrate and strengthen our processes and systems following our integration in 2021, these reviews help us pinpoint clear, practical improvements to enhance customer experience. 

We published the summaries of these reviews in March 2026.

Review into customer communications framework

Scyne Advisory (Scyne) completed the review into our customer communications framework. As part of the review, Scyne engaged with six community sector organisations to understand the diverse needs of our customers and community.

The review found that while some teams have guidance, GWW does not have a single, enterprise-wide customer communications framework. This can result in mixed messages, repeated contacts, communication delays, lower trust and possible privacy risks.

Scyne have provided us with seven recommendations designed to improve data accuracy, better track communications performance, centralise communications content internally, gather customer feedback and implement a company-wide communications framework.

Following this review, we’re committed to uplifting our customer communications processes to ensure our customers are receiving clear information that is:

• customer-centric
• accessible, inclusive and empathetic
• fair and transparent
• consistent across channels
• proactive and timely
• ensures your data is safe in our systems.

Review into hardship grants program

Uniting Vic Tas (Uniting) completed the review into our hardship grants program, which looked into the framework, policies and processes we use to support customers experiencing hardship, and opportunities to expand our response to vulnerability.

The review found that while we have a committed and caring workforce, strong foundations in our support model and well-trained specialist teams to respond to vulnerable customers, there’s more we can do.

Uniting provided us with a number of recommendations designed to strengthen our overall approach to vulnerability and hardship in relation to systems, staff capability, communication and governance, so that customers receive safe, fair and reliable services and support.

We’re committed to making improvements to how we identify, assess and respond to customers with complex circumstances and need some extra support.

This work includes deepening our understanding of our communities’ needs and taking a more customer-centric approach to how we support each and every GWW customer.