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OIA Complaints: A new approach from the Ombudsman

  Tyrone Coupland  ·  4 minute read

The Official Information Act (OIA) is a cornerstone of transparency in New Zealand’s public sector, giving citizens the right to access information held by government agencies. However, as the Ombudsman’s recent statement highlights, a significant proportion of complaints—around 25%—relate to delays in responding to OIA requests. This statistic is a wake-up call for agencies: managing OIA workloads efficiently is not just a matter of good service, but a legal and reputational imperative.

The Ombudsman's New Approach to Delay Complaints

The Ombudsman’s office has recently signalled a renewed focus on delay-related complaints. With a quarter of all complaints falling into this category, agencies can expect increased scrutiny of their timeliness and processes. The Ombudsman’s approach is clear: agencies must have robust systems in place to ensure statutory deadlines are met, and any delays are properly justified and communicated.

This new stance is not just about compliance—it’s about restoring public trust. When requests are delayed, it undermines confidence in government openness. Conversely, timely responses demonstrate respect for the public’s right to know.

The Challenge: Statutory Deadlines and Growing Workloads

Under the OIA, agencies are required to respond to requests “as soon as reasonably practicable,” and no later than 20 working days after receipt. Extensions are possible but must be justified and communicated within the same timeframe.

With the volume of OIA requests rising year on year the risk of missing deadlines is real.

OIA requests to public service agencies have more than tripled since 2016, rising from 23,169 to 73,735 across Public Service Departments and Crown Entities alone. Some requests generate large workloads, especially those seeking to look back on aged data. Searching across both current and legacy systems to answer the request can be a lengthy and complex task.

The Ombudsman’s website contains numerous cases that illustrate common pitfalls:

  • Case 521: An agency failed to respond within statutory timeframes due to internal misrouting of the request.

  • Opinion 317: A Minister’s office delayed release of information pending political review, which was deemed unjustified.

  • Case 488: An extension was applied without proper justification, leading to a formal recommendation.

These examples underscore the importance of tracking, escalation, and statutory compliance.

Manual tracking methods, such as spreadsheets or email reminders, quickly become unmanageable as workloads grow. Missed deadlines can lead to complaints, investigations, and ultimately, public criticism.

What the Data Shows

The Ombudsman recently released their Annual Report, for the 24/25 year. OIA complaints were up 19% to an all-time high of 2,554 complaints. With the growing volume of OIAs, it's no surprise that complaints are also increasing.

With limited resources to investigate each complaint in a timely manner, it makes sense to adopt a new approach to managing delay complaints.

From 1 August 2025, the Ombudsman will:

  • Contact agencies immediately upon receiving a delay complaint.

  • Expect resolution within 1–2 weeks before launching formal investigations.

  • Track all complaints to identify patterns of non-compliance.

  • Continue to publish six-monthly data to spotlight systemic issues.

This marks a shift from reactive investigation to proactive resolution and is a pragmatic approach that will remind agencies of the importance of meeting OIA requests in a way that will give agencies timely notice to resolve outstanding requests that will likely be more useful to the person raising the complaint.

It’s also a great opportunity for agencies to streamline their processes and potentially reduce complaints by up to 25% if they can manage response times better.

The Solution: Applications That Track Deadlines and Workloads

This is where technology can make a real difference. Applications designed to track OIA requests, deadlines, and workflow stages can help agencies stay on top of their obligations.

To stay ahead, agencies can:

  • Use extensions appropriately under s15(1) OIA and s13(1) LGOIMA.

  • Triage requests within the first few days of receipt, to help clarify, transfer or refuse requests seeming to be outside of the agency’s remit to answer.

  • Implement internal dashboards to track request status.

  • Automate alerts and reports for approaching deadlines.

  • Track due dates against progressive stages in the process to provide early warning.

  • Have an escalation mechanism to involve senior staff

  • Ensure your request tracking solution can manage date extensions and date resets from clarifications to ensure the agency has time to respond to larger and more complex requests whilst operating within the OIA act.

For example, tools like TEAM Track offer features such as:

  • Automated deadline calculations – not just setting the due date accounting for weekends and public holidays but also target dates for each step of the process, so that the individuals playing a part in the response can understand and manage their workload to their specific due date, so there is no mad rush right at the end.
  • Dashboard views – to provide managers with a real-time overview of all active requests, highlighting those at risk of delay and able to take early action.
  • Action History – a record of actions taken, extensions granted, transfers or refusals, and communications sent – supporting transparency and accountability.  It also makes reporting back to the Public Service Commission or the Ombudsman a breeze as the data has already been generated as a side-effect of user and system actions.
  • Part of your SharePoint environment – which translates to lower costs, a familiar user interface and more importantly, can leverage other SharePoint benefits such as AI-driven search and specific agents to help put together responses faster.

By centralising information and automating routine tracking, these applications free up staff to focus on substantive work—finding and releasing information—rather than chasing dates.

Real-World Impact: Reducing Complaints and Building Trust

Agencies that invest in deadline-tracking tools are better positioned to meet the Ombudsman’s expectations. They can demonstrate proactive management of OIA requests, respond promptly to public inquiries, and reduce the likelihood of delay-related complaints.

Moreover, these systems support a culture of continuous improvement. By analysing data on request volumes, response times, and bottlenecks, agencies can identify areas for process refinement and resource allocation.

Looking Ahead: Smarter, More Transparent Government

The Ombudsman’s renewed focus on delay complaints is both a challenge and an opportunity. Agencies that embrace technology to manage OIA workflows will not only reduce their risk of complaints but also contribute to a more open, responsive public sector.

As the volume and complexity of OIA requests continue to grow, the case for smart tracking tools becomes ever stronger. Investing in these solutions is not just about compliance—it’s about delivering on the promise of transparent, accountable government.

 

Contact Us:

If you would like to find out more about TEAM Track, or if you are interested in receiving a summary document of the growth statistics for OIA requests over the last 16 years, contact us for a copy of the document.

 

References:

Ombudsman’s approach to official information delay complaints | Ombudsman New Zealand [31 July 2025]

Another record year for Office of the Ombudsman | Ombudsman New Zealand [21 Oct 2025]