Page updated on: Friday April 23, 2010
The Ombudsmen may be able to help you when you have been treated unfairly by a government agency (eg. schools, prisons, IRD or WINZ) or a local council. The Ombudsmen can refuse to deal with a complaint if the matter has not first been raised with the agency concerned or the person has a reasonable alternative legal remedy. The Ombudsman will also not generally investigate complaints that are trivial, vexatious or over 12 months old. While a decision of the Ombudsmen is not binding on the government agency concerned, it can be an extremely effective way of getting a problem resolved as non compliance with a decision would be reported to Parliament. More detail can be found at the Ombudsman's own website.
In addition to the "government" Ombudsmen there are also two "industry" based ombudsmen dealing with disputes between banks and customers (the Banking Ombudsman) and insurance companies and their customers (Insurance and Savings Ombudsman). Complainants should check first whether the company the have a complaint with is a members of these industry based schemes.
Does a case to the Ombudsman cost anything?
There is no cost to a requester for any investigation or review undertaken by an Ombudsman
Where does the term ‘Ombudsman’ come from ?
The term ‘Ombudsman’ is taken directly from the Swedish language, the former in Norse being ‘umbodhsmadr’, which means ‘grievance person’. It is however, not necessary to be man to hold office. In New Zealand two of the holders of office have been women since 1962. In many territories and jurisdictions throughout the world there are women holding office.
How long does a case take?
The office has a computer based case management system to ensure that investigations are undertaken and completed as soon as possible. The present office workload is approximately 6000 cases per year and there are 600 or so cases open at any given time. The office maintains performance targets as a result of which it can be said that an Ombudsmen Act complaint will take an average of 39 working days to be resolved. The Official Information Act cases will take an average of 69 working days to be resolved and a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act case, 55 working days.
Does an Ombudsman deal individually with each case?
The Ombudsmen have a number of investigating officers who assist in the analysis of complaints and the drafting of material which is communicated to Government organisations. Each Ombudsman however, considers and signs all major communications with requesters and Government organisations so as to maintain, as much as possible, a personal connection with each request made.