Ombudsman's office publishes OIA and LGOIMA complaints information for July to December 2025
The Office of the Ombudsman has published its half-yearly data on Official Information Act (OIA) and Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) complaints.
The data covers the number of complaints received under each Act from 1 July to 31 December 2025 as well as the number of complaints completed by the Ombudsman during this period.
The number of complaints about the way government agencies handle OIA requests has continued to rise year on year. In the most recent six-month period, there was an increase of 173 complaints compared to the previous half year (1,198 complaints, up from 1,025 in the previous half year).
The top three types of OIA complaints related to refusals in full (322, up from 260), delays in making a decision (280, up from 210), and partial refusals (247, down from 258).
Of the total received, 953 were from individuals (up from 794), 121 from media (up from 113), 55 from companies, associations, incorporated societies or collectives (up from 54).
There were 322 complaints made under the LGOIMA, up from the previous six-monthly period when 251 complaints were received.
Of the 322 LGOIMA complaints received, 290 were from individuals (up from 209), 19 from the media (up from 14), and 12 from companies, associations, incorporated societies or collectives (down from 20).
The top four types of LGOIMA complaints were refusals in full (87, up from 66), refusals in part (87, up from 52), inadequate or incomplete responses (53, up from 47), and delays in making decisions (49, down from 53).
Complaints data (1 July - 31 December 2025)
Complaints received: LGOIMA – 290 individuals, 19 media, 13 other, total 322. OIA – 953 individuals, 121 media, 124 other, total 1,198.
LGOIMA or OIA complaints received may also be from: political party research units; trade unions; special interest groups, companies, associations, incorporated societies, Members of Parliament, etc. These are categorised as 'Other' in this table. See this half year data set for more detail.
Reasons for complaints
LGOIMA: Delay in decision 49, Refusal in full 87, Refusal in part 87, Incomplete/inadequate response 53, Extension 15, Other 31. OIA: Delay in decision 280, Refusal in full 322, Refusal in part 247, Incomplete/inadequate response 102, Extension 71, Other 176.
The 'Other' category may include complaints about decisions to make information available subject to a charge; the manner or form in which information was released; alleged delay in releasing information; extensions of the time limit to making decisions on requests; refusal - statement of reasons; refusal - internal rules and guidelines; refusal - personal information about body corporate. See this half year data set for more detail.
Complaints completed
Complaints completed: LGOIMA – 333 individuals, 28 media, 29 other, total 390. OIA – 1,253 individuals, 151 media, 156 other, total 1,560.
About the data
The data released by the Ombudsman concerns both OIA and LGOIMA complaints received and completed from 1 July to 31 December 2025. It includes information on the number of complaints received by Minister or agency, the nature of the complaint and type of complainant (media, private individual, etc). For the complaints completed, the data also includes the outcome of the complaint.
The data does not enable a direct comparison between agencies, as complaints data on its own does not give the full picture. The number of complaints received by the Ombudsman may be a very small proportion of the total number of OIA or LGOIMA requests received by an agency.
OIA and LGOIMA complaints received between 31 July and 31 December 2025
Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission publishes its own data on OIA requests received by agencies and their response times on the same day as the Ombudsman publishes.