In 2021–22, our performance reflected both the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and our efforts to identify and prioritise key areas and activities as more operations resumed following the lifting of restrictions.
During the period of public health restrictions, some of our performance measures, which are demand-driven and vary across business activity levels, decreased or increased accordingly. As restrictions eased, we focused on the areas most relevant to the community’s recovery. For example, on-site compliance inspections were limited during 2021, and when restrictions lifted, CAV’s resources were directed to the most urgent need for rent and repair inspections.
As restrictions eased, staff started returning to our offices, and we adjusted our services to accommodate a hybrid working arrangement. This included leveraging updated technology to support the remote operation of the contact centre, enabling us to focus on providing crucial information and advice to vulnerable members of the community, including through online services. We adjusted our service model to promote online advice, while ensuring telephone support remained available for those who need it. While this adjustment impacted the amount of information and advice provided to consumers and businesses over the phone, we are proud that we were able to be responsive and flexible in meeting consumer needs.
Over the year, CAV delivered thousands of licensing and registration services to Victorian businesses and community organisations as well as, where required, compliance and enforcement activities. Our regulatory transactions activity exceeded expectations as we implemented the Professional Engineers Registration Scheme.
We supported financial counselling agencies to deliver critical assistance to Victorians over a year heavily impacted by restrictions on face-to-face service delivery. While the increased complexity of client cases impacted the number of clients we assisted, we are reassured that we are providing meaningful assistance to the most vulnerable Victorians.
We are proud to have played an important role in providing Victorians with the necessary supports and protections during such a challenging year. We continued to focus our efforts on providing the services Victorians most needed during this time and protecting the rights of vulnerable groups to ensure fair and safe treatment.
This year, our performance was measured against target outputs specified in Budget Paper 3
2021–22. Outputs are those goods and services provided to government by departments, agencies and statutory bodies, and through funding provided to others, such as community agencies.
For more information on our performance against targets for output measures, see page 9 of the Annual Report 2021-22 (PDF, 762KB).