Asking us to review a decision to close your complaint

If we decide not to take further action on your complaint, or to stop taking action, we close the complaint. If you disagree with that decision, you may ask us to review it.

We recommend that you speak to your case officer before requesting a review. They will explain how and why they made the decision.

If you are still unsatisfied with their explanation you can ask for an independent review under our Review Policy.

There is a 28-day time limit for asking for a review once we have told you about our decision to close the complaint and have advised you that you have 28 days to seek a review.

Under our review policy we can review a decision to close a complaint that was made to us about NSW government agencies and government funded community service providers.

However, the review process does not apply to:

• complaints that we formally investigated
• complaints the Ombudsman personally decided to close
• matters that are fully and unambiguously outside our jurisdiction
• complaints about the conduct of NSW Ombudsman officers (our Complaints About Us policy applies)
• decisions made under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009, Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 or Public Interest Disclosures Act 2022 (other review processes apply, see our policies).

You can ask for a review by phone, email or letter. We may ask you to complete a Review Form.

Time limit

You should ask for a review within 28 days of the later of:

• the date we told you that your complaint was closed, or
• the date we told you about the 28-day time limit.

We may consider a late request if special circumstances explain the delay. If your request is late, you will need to tell us what prevented you from asking earlier.

The review officer considers whether closing your complaint was appropriate. Relevant factors may include:

• whether our legislation allows us to deal with the complaint
• whether you already raised the issue with the agency or organisation and how it responded
• the seriousness of the conduct and the type or degree of harm
• how much time has passed
• whether another agency or organisation is better placed to deal with the issue
• whether another satisfactory remedy or pathway is available
• whether further action is likely to lead to a substantially better outcome for you
• whether further action is warranted, taking account of available resources and the public interest
• any other relevant factor.

The review officer will not generally make new inquiries of the agency or organisation concerned or third parties. If further inquiries are needed, the review officer may decide that the complaint should be reopened for further handling.

We aim to complete reviews within 60 days after approving the request. Some reviews may take longer because of the complexity of the complaint or our workload. If we expect the review to take longer than 60 days, we will let you know as soon as possible.

No. We conduct only one review of each decision to close a complaint.

We want the review process to be accessible. Tell us if you need help to:

• understand your review options
• explain why you disagree with the closure decision
• make a verbal request
• receive information in an accessible way.