The Government watchdog is struggling to keep up with its workload. Photo / Mark Mitchell, NZ Herald
The Government watchdog is struggling to keep up with its workload. Photo / Mark Mitchell, NZ Herald
A key Government watchdog is struggling to keep up with its oversight workload.
The annual report for the Office of the Ombudsman shows the agency is facing challenges with a significant workload.
In the last year the office received more than 12,000 complaints - the second highest it has everreceived in a year.
The Ombudsman only managed to complete 50 per cent of urgent investigations within four months and just a quarter of priority investigations within six months.
Almost half of its total complaint investigations weren't completed within a year.
Prior to the Christchurch earthquakes, the Ombudsman averaged 10 to 15 complaints about the EQC annually.
However, it appears the number of complaints is trending down - the 474 recorded last year was down from 649 in 2013-14 and fewer than the 838 recorded in 2012-13.