How to make a complaint to the Ombudsman

How to complain about public bodies to the Ombudsman

Our Step-by-Step Guide

Successful complaints to the Office of the Ombudsman are taken seriously but it is a long process. There are five steps before your complaint will be accepted. You must have complained directly to the public service provider before the Ombudsman will accept your complaint.

So, let’s get started.

5 Steps Overview

• Step 1
  Find the correct contact details for the public service provider you are complaining about.
• Step 2
  Prepare your complaint to your public service provider and send it.
• Step 3
  Wait for a reasonable response time from your public service provider.
• Step 4
  Prepare your complaint for the Office of the Ombudsman. Assuming the public service does not resolve the problem - you can now complain to the Office of the Ombudsman.
• Step 5
  Lodge your complaint directly with the Office of the Ombudsman.

5 Steps in Detail

Step 1: Get the correct contact details for the relevant public service provider.

You must complain directly to the public service provider about its inaccessible service or the recent access incident.
These could include Local Authorities and Government departments, such as: the Department of Transportation and the National Transport Authority

Still not sure who you should complain to? Here are some examples to help

Are you upset with public infrastructure?
Do you want to complain about an existing footpath, crosswalk, bus stop? Complain to your local authority’s Inquiry Officer.

Do you want to complain about a future infrastructure plan?
Check out our submission guide.

Do you want to complain about a general issue?
For example, ’Several of the new bus stops being rolled out throughout the cities are being designed inaccessibly for me’: Contact the Department of Transportation—they oversee many of the key public transport bodies (including the National Transport Authority) and have the responsibility to adhere to the certain requirements of the Disability Act in their plans.

You can direct your complaint to the relevant person in the public body (e.g. the customer service section or the inquiry officer etc.), most public bodies publish their complaint procedures on their websites.

If you are ever unsure about where to complain, an Access Officer’s role is to ensure that services provided by a public body are accessible and therefore can guide you on the right place to submit your complaint.

Included below is the contact information for the person responsible for Disability Act complaints in several bodies:

Describe the issue you experienced. What is the feature that is inaccessible to you?

Here are some features others have complained about:

• Shared space, or sometimes known as ‘pedestrian and cyclist zones’. This is defined as spaces where pedestrians and cyclists or e-scooters share the same path or walkway.
• Floating bus islands are defined as bus islands where pedestrians must leave the path and cross a cycle lane to get to their bus stop or the bus when it arrives.
• Disabled parking bays in live traffic. Disabled parking spaces that are lined on one or both sides with live traffic (cycle or vehicle).
• ‘Zebra crossings’ or unmediated crossings. Unmediated crossings are defined as pedestrian crossings that do not have signals that audibly and visually indicate when pedestrians are safe to cross cycle lanes and when cyclists must come to a stop to allow for pedestrian traffic.

Need help getting started? Use our template:

"Hello, as is my right under Section 38 of the Disability Act, I am writing about a complaint under the Disability Act, Section 26, which states that 'Where a service is provided by a public body, the head of the body shall ensure that the service is accessible to persons with disabilities.' The service you provide is not accessible to me.

The incident I am complaining about occurred...[insert date/location]

[Insert description- what happened? How it occurred? What was to blame? How you were denied access/ felt unsafe/ got injured/ narrowly avoided injury? How it negatively impacted you?]

I am complaining to make my concerns known and ask that you make [insert detail] accessible. Please let me know when I can expect a response."

Yours sincerely,

Step 3: Wait

The public service should appoint an Inquiry Officer and follow up with the outcome. This should occur within a reasonable time frame.

If you do not receive a response in a reasonable time frame you can complain to the Ombudsman’s office noting that you never received a response from the public body. Generally, what is a ’reasonable time frame’ is determined by the public body’s customer service deadline.

But if you are unsure what is a sufficient period to wait before going to the ombudsman’s office, a good general rule is that it is ok to submit your complaint to the Ombudsman after a couple of months without a response.

Step 4: Prepare your complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Assuming the public service provider does not respond to your complaint, or their response does not resolve the problem you have raised, you can now complain to the Office of the Ombudsman.

You can use the same complaint you used already- simply include the information about your first complaint to the public service provider.

Here is a suggested template.

"Hello, as is my right under Section 38 of the Disability Act, I am writing about a complaint under the Disability Act, Section 26.

The service provided by [INSERT PUBLIC SERVICE PROVIDER NAME] is not accessible to me.

A complaint I made [insert date of complaint] made to this public service provider has not been answered/ has not been resolved.

The incident I am complaining about occurred....[insert date/location]

[Insert description- what happened? How did it occur? what was to blame? how you were denied access/ felt unsafe/ got injured/ narrowly avoided injury? how it negatively impacted you?]

I am complaining to make my concerns known and ask that you raise my concerns with the relevant bodies. Please let me know when I can expect a response."

Yours sincerely,

Step 5: Contact the Ombudsman’s office with your complaint

When you contact the Ombudsman’s office, let them know that you’ve contacted the public body and share the information with them.

You can contact the Ombudsman’s office by using the following details