Service Delivery Charter for Complaint Handling

This document sets out the standards of service you can expect when making a complaint to the NSW Ombudsman.

Our office handles complaints about most NSW government agencies, local councils and community service providers.

Please contact us by phone, email or post, or visit our website to find out more about our complaint handling. You can also make an appointment to see us in person. 

• Telephone: 1800 451 524 (Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm)
• Email: info@ombo.nsw.gov.au 
• Mail or in person: Level 24, 580 George Street Sydney NSW 2000
• Website: https://ombo.nsw.gov.au

Our free and independent service is available to every member of the public. We are committed to ensuring that our services are accessible to everyone.

If you need any assistance let us know – we will make any reasonable adjustments necessary to help you communicate with us.

Before contacting us, you should speak to the internal complaints area of the agency or organisation you are complaining about. This gives them the opportunity to resolve your complaint first.

If you do not feel safe doing so, you can come to us without taking that step.

Every complaint to our office is taken seriously. We will:

• communicate clearly
• treat you with respect and courtesy
• give you a reasonable opportunity to provide us with information
• explain what we can do and we cannot do
• keep you informed of progress
• provide a timely and reliable service
• give you meaningful reasons for any decisions we make
• apologise if we get it wrong

• We are an independent service. This means that we cannot provide legal advice or act as an advocate for people who complain to us when we communicate with the agencies they complain about. We don’t take sides.
• We cannot make an agency take any steps or order them to do something in the way a court can.

To help us meet our commitment to you to provide a high standard of service, we ask that you:

• are polite and always treat our staff with courtesy and respect
• explain what issues you would like addressed and what the outcome is that you are seeking
• respond to any requests for information from us within the agreed timeframe
• let us know if you need to correct or update any information provided (including contact information) or if you wish to withdraw your complaint

If you are not able to meet these, we will let you know if there are to be changes to how we will communicate with you. For example, abuse directed at our staff will not be tolerated and may result in us communicating with you in writing only.

We welcome feedback on our service. We survey people who bring complaints to our office once they are finalised. This feedback allows us to refine and continually improve our service to the public.

If you do not agree with an outcome, please contact the staff member who managed your matter to discuss any concerns. If this does not resolve the matter, you can contact us to apply for an internal review of the decision.