Source: Office of the Ombudsman
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 January 2026 to 30 June 2026 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 46 complaints compared to the previous half year (1,244 complaints, up from 1,198 in the previous half year).
The top three types of OIA complaints related to delays in making a decision (323, up from 280), refusals in full (318, down from 322), and partial refusals (242, down from 247).
Of the total received, 987 were from individuals (up from 953), 111 from media (down from 121), and 70 from companies, associations, incorporated societies or collectives (up from 55).
There were 397 complaints made under the LGOIMA, up from the previous six-monthly period when 322 complaints were received.
Of the 397 LGOIMA complaints received, 341 were from individuals (up from 290), 24 from the media (up from 19), and 24 from companies, associations, incorporated societies or collectives (up from 12).
The top four types of LGOIMA complaints were refusals in part (99, up from 87), refusals in full (94, up from 87), delays in making decisions (82, up from 49), and inadequate or incomplete responses (79, up from 53).
LGOIMA complaints received against Council Controlled Organisations tripled, with 62 received compared to 20 in the last reporting round, reflecting interest in water entities as well as Auckland transport governance.
Complaints data (1 January – 30 June 2026)
Complaints received
| Complaint type | Individual | Media | Other | Total received |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LGOIMA | 341 | 24 | 32 | 397 |
| OIA | 987 | 111 | 146 | 1,244 |
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
| Complaint type | Delay in decision | Refusal in full | Refusal in part | Incomplete/ inadequate response | Extension | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LGOIMA | 82 | 94 | 99 | 79 | 9 | 34 |
| OIA | 323 | 318 | 242 | 116 | 49 | 196 |
Complaints completed
| Complaint type | Individual | Media | Other | Total completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LGOIMA | 376 | 18 | 29 | 423 |
| OIA | 1,050 | 106 | 142 | 1,298 |
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.
About the data
The data released by the Ombudsman concerns both OIA and LGOIMA complaints received and completed from 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2026. 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.
See the Ombudsman’s half year complaints data
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.