Good morning

Thank you for your e-mail regarding complaints. I have referred this to the Office of the Chief Executive which will co-ordinate a response.

Many thanks for writing to us.

Yours sincerely

Katherine
Customer Care Representative | Kanohi Kaitiaki Kiritaki
Channels team | Te rōpu whai ara
Customer Experience and Analytics | Te Āheinga Tari/ Ngā Tirohanga Rāwaho
New Zealand Qualifications Authority | Mana Tohu Mātauranga o Aotearoa

Phone 0800 697 296
@ [email address]
: www.nzqa.govt.nz
* 125 The Terrace, PO Box 160, Wellington, 6140
Customer Services Representative

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Kia ora A.L

 

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 of 6
May 2026 seeking the following information:

 

I am requesting information about complaints made to NZQA in relation to
the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code
of Practice 2021.

 

I would appreciate if you could please provide the following information

 

- Complaint Statistics: The total number of complaints received alleging
breaches of the Code since it came in to force on January 1st 2022, split
by year and further broken down by action taken: (e.g., No action,
referred back to provider/other agency, preliminary inquiry, formal
investigation).

 

- Analysis of Complaints Resulting in Action: For all complaints that
resulted in a formal investigation, a finding of non-compliance, or a
compliance notice, please provide:

• Type and Theme of Complaint: The specific Outcome of the Code alleged to
have been breached (e.g., Outcome 1, Outcome 4, etc.) and the general
theme of the concern (e.g., student accommodation, mental health, physical
safety).

• Institution Name, or if confidentiality obligations prevent explicit
naming, by region and provider type • The reasons or criteria that led
these specific matters to be prioritized for investigation compared to
those where no action was taken.

• The final regulatory outcome for these complaints (e.g., breach
identified, improvement notice issued, or no breach found after
investigation).

 

- Analysis of "Non-Action" Complaints: For all complaints where NZQA
decided to take no further action (including those closed after
preliminary inquiries), please provide:

• Type and Theme of Complaint: The specific Outcome of the Code alleged to
have been breached (e.g., Outcome 1, Outcome 4, etc.) and the general
theme of the concern (e.g., student accommodation, mental health, physical
safety).

• Institution Name, or if confidentiality obligations prevent explicit
naming, by region and provider type • The specific grounds for non-action
(e.g., deemed out of scope, failed to meet the threshold for
investigation, referred to a different dispute resolution scheme).

• Any internal guidance or "threshold documents" used by staff to
determine when a specific type of complaint does or does not warrant
further inquiry.

 

- Monitoring & Verification: Documentation outlining the mechanisms used
to monitor provider compliance. Specifically, I request information on how
NZQA verifies the self-review reports and attestations submitted by
providers to ensure they are accurate.

 

- Non-Compliance Processes: Procedures followed when NZQA identifies
potential non-compliance via external sources (e.g., media reports,
whistleblower tips, etc).

 

- Thematic Reviews: A list of any thematic or strategic reviews NZQA has
undertaken into specific Code outcomes (e.g., student accommodation or
mental health services) since 2022.

 

If any information is held across multiple documents, I request the
relevant extracts. If any part of this request is likely to be refused
under section 18(f), please provide reasonable assistance to refine the
request as per section 13 of the Act.

 

Any statistical data may be provided in an open-access, machine-readable
format (such as a .csv or .xlsx file).

 

 

You can expect to receive a response to your request on or before 4 June
2026. You will be contacted again if there is a likelihood that this
timeframe cannot be met.

 

As you may know requests for official information become official
information once received.  As part of the processing of requests for
official information, NZQA may need to consult with relevant third
parties.  During the consultation, a third party may ask for the identity
of the individual/organisation requesting the information. If you are an
individual making a request, please advise us whether or not you would
have an objection to disclosing your identity if a third party asks for
your identity, and the reasons for your objection.   If you are an
individual making a request on behalf of an organisation please advise us
both whether you personally have an objection to disclosing your identity,
and the reasons for your objection, as well as any objection to
identifying the organisation, together with reasons. NZQA will consider
your reasons and whether they fit with any withholding grounds under the
Privacy Act 2020 or the Official Information Act 1982.

 

Requests from an organisation for information about the organisation will
be processed under Part 4 of the Official Information Act.

 

As part of the commitment to open and transparent government, NZQA is
proactively releasing responses to Official Information Act requests which
are of public interest. We publish OIA responses on a quarterly basis. We
will include advice about the publication of your request in our final
response letter. Your name and contact details will be removed before
publication.

 

In some circumstances after scoping a request, NZQA may decide to charge
for making the requested information available. If this is the case, we
will write to you again with details and seek confirmation you wanted to
proceed on that basis.

  

For any enquiries about your request, please contact
[1][email address].

 

If you are dissatisfied with our response, you have the right, under
section 28(3) of the Official Information Act 1982, to lodge a complaint
with the Office of the Ombudsman at [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. You
can also telephone 0800 802 502 or write to the Ombudsman at PO Box 10152,
Wellington, 6143.

 

 NZQA Ministerials team

 

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