OIA Complaint Backlog Statistics
Nigel Gray made this Official Information request to Office of the Ombudsman
The request was successful.
From: Nigel Gray
Dear Office of the Ombudsman,
I am requesting the following information under the Official Information Act 1982:
1. The number of OIA complaints currently awaiting allocation to an investigator, as at the date of this request.
2. The number of OIA complaints currently under active investigation.
3. The number of OIA complaints closed in the past 12 months, broken down by month.
4. The average time between receipt of an OIA complaint and allocation to an investigator, for the past 12 months.
5. The age (in days) of the oldest unresolved OIA complaint currently on hand.
6. Any internal KPIs, performance measures, or backlog‑reduction plans relating to OIA complaint timeliness.
Context: I wish to note, respectfully, that I and many other New Zealanders are increasingly concerned about the length of time OIA complaints are taking to be investigated. Extended delays have real consequences for public trust, transparency, and the overall wellbeing of New Zealand’s democratic system. When oversight mechanisms become slow or inaccessible, it affects the ability of citizens to participate meaningfully in public life and to hold agencies accountable.
This request is made in good faith and in the public interest, with the intention of better understanding the scale of the backlog and its impact on the effectiveness of the OIA framework.
I request the information in electronic form.
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Gray
From: Info
Office of the Ombudsman
Tēnā koe,
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PO Box 10152, Level 7, SolNet House, 70 The Terrace, Wellington
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From: Info
Office of the Ombudsman
Tçnâ koe Mr Gray
I refer to your correspondence of Thursday 4 June 2026 in which you
requested information about OIA complaints, allocation processes,
complaint closures, and performance measures.
Whilst the Ombudsman is not subject to the Official Information Act 1982,
Ombudsmen endeavour to act in the spirit of the Act, where they are able,
and provide information where possible, subject to the strict secrecy and
confidentiality requirements as set out in the Ombudsmen Act 1975. In this
instance the information I am able to provide, related to your request, is
outlined below. I have included information related to both OIA and LGOIMA
to provide a fuller picture of the work undertaken by the Ombudsman.
Complaints on hand
Some complaints often include more than one issue to which we refer to as
a ‘ground’, so the following numbers indicate the number of issues raised
in a complaint, not the number of individuals who have submitted a
complaint. We currently have on hand 627 OIA grounds and 219 LGOIMA
grounds. Of the 842 complaints on hand, 136 were received before 1 July
2025, a percentage of which will be closed before the close of the current
financial year. All grounds on hand are at various stages of consideration
and investigation – stages include preliminary inquiries, formal
notification, investigation, provisional and final opinion. The Ombudsman
can often resolve many complaints by talking to a complainant and the
agency the complaint is about. If the complaint can be resolved, an
investigation may not be necessary.
Allocation
The Ombudsman receives a high volume of complaints, and the time it takes
for any complaint to be allocated varies depending on the urgency of the
complaint, the capacity of investigators, and the complexity of complaints
currently being considered or investigated. In general, we aim to have all
complaints allocated ASAP and ideally within 4 weeks of receipt. Over the
past 12 months it has taken an average of 9 working days from receipt of a
complaint to allocation. Complaints are actively managed and reviewed, and
in some instances may need to be reprioritised as circumstances change and
some matters become more (or less) urgent.
Complaints closed
The following table provides the number of OIA/LGOIMA complaints closed in
the 2025/26 financial year by month (to date). Please note the figures are
provisional and yet to be verified for annual reporting purposes.
Month/Year Number closed
July 2025 285
August 2025 363
September 2025 369
October 2025 285
November 2025 316
December 2025 334
January 2026 202
February 2026 236
March 2026 332
April 2026 271
May 2026 287
Performance measures
The Ombudsman’s commitment to Parliament, contained in his [1]Strategic
Intentions 2023 to 2028, is to complete 70% of complaints within three
months, 80% within six months and 95% within one year. Compliance with
those goals is reported in the [2]Ombudsman’s Annual Reports and, from
time to time, are also reported to relevant select committees.
You can also find the following information available on our website:
o The Ombudsman’s [3]complaints process;
o The Ombudsman’s [4]OIA for Ministers and agencies: A guide to
processing official information requests, which includes guidance on
processing requirements, including timeframes, extensions, and staged
release;
o The Ombudsman’s [5]OIA and Local Government Official Information and
Meetings Act (LGOIMA) complaints data sets, which provide information
about the number of official information complaints received and
closed including information about extension and delay complaints;
o [6]The OIA data set published contemporaneously by the Public Service
Commission, which contains data about the handling of OIA requests by
the public service including compliance with statutory timeframes, the
proportion of extensions made, and the average time to respond; and
finally
I trust that you will find this information useful.
Nâku noa, nâ
Sue
Sue Domañski
Senior Advisor | Strategy and Performance
Governance and Strategy Group
Office of the Ombudsman | Tari o te Kaitiaki Mana Tangata
Phone 0800 802 602
Email [7][Office of the Ombudsman request email] | [8]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
PO Box 10152, Level 7, SolNet House, 70 The Terrace, Wellington
[9]image001-original
IMPORTANT: The information contained in this email may be confidential or
legally privileged. It is intended solely for the recipient or recipients
named in this message. Please note that if you are not the intended
recipient you are not authorised to use, copy or distribute the email or
any information contained in it. If you have received this email in error,
please advise the sender immediately and destroy the original message and
any attachments.
IMPORTANT: The information contained in this email may be confidential or
legally privileged. It is intended solely for the recipient or recipients
named in this message. Please note that if you are not the intended
recipient you are not authorised to use, copy or distribute the email or
any information contained in it. If you have received this email in error,
please advise the sender immediately and destroy the original message and
any attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/reso...
2. https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/reso...
3. https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/what...
4. https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/reso...
5. https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/reso...
6. https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/guidan...
7. mailto:[Office of the Ombudsman request email]
8. http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
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