Human RightsAn Independent Route to Complain
Nine percent of complaints against district services are upheld. The regional average is thirty-one. The difference is who does the reviewing.
If you complain about a district service, the complaint is reviewed by the department that provided it. At stage two it is reviewed by that department’s director. There is no stage three.
The comparison
Six districts in the region collect complaint outcomes the same way. Four have an independent review office. Two — Rivermont and Ashdale — do not.
| District | Independent office | Complaints upheld |
|---|---|---|
| Northmere | Yes | 34% |
| Calder | Yes | 33% |
| Whitleigh | Yes | 30% |
| Ferrisbrook | Yes | 27% |
| Ashdale | No | 11% |
| Rivermont | No | 9% |
Two explanations fit that table. Either Rivermont and Ashdale run services three times better than their neighbors, or a department reviewing itself finds in its own favor. The second explanation has more supporting evidence.
What the office would do
- Review any complaint that has completed the department’s own process.
- Publish an annual report naming services and outcomes, never complainants.
- Require a response within twenty working days, and record a non-response.
The cost argument, answered
The objection is always cost. The district spent $214,000 on external legal advice in 2024, of which the monitoring officer attributes a majority to complaints that were mishandled at stage one. An independent office is not an addition to that. It is what replaces it.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions this one comes back to at the surgeries, answered in the same words we use there.
Because it is the only figure that is collected the same way across all six districts in the region, which makes it the only one that supports a comparison. It is not a perfect measure and we would welcome a better one.
Full council, with an annual public report. Not to a director, and not to the chief executive — both of whom sit above the services being reviewed.
About $190,000 a year for two full-time staff and a part-time chair. That is 0.2% of the district's service budget, and less than the district currently spends on external legal advice arising from complaints handled badly at stage one.
It can require a response within twenty working days and record a non-response as a finding. It cannot compel a remedy. In the four neighboring districts that have one, the published non-response has proved sufficient.