Complaints about disability services

Find out how to make a complaint about disability supports and services, and what happens after.

Making a complaint

You have the right to make a complaint if you are unhappy with your disability supports or services.

Another person can support you to make a complaint, or they can make a complaint on your behalf, such as a family member, whānau, friend or disability advocate.  You can contact the Health & Disability Advocacy Service external for free, independent and confidential advice and support.

Disability providers have processes for managing feedback and complaints. Contact them first. They are there to support you.

If you are not satisfied with the response from the provider, or if you do not want to contact them, you can:

provide feedback to DSS about providers we fund.
contact other agencies including the Ombudsman, Health and Disability Commissioner, Human Rights Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner.

What can you complain about?

A complaint is when you are not happy, and you want to tell someone the reason. If you complain to DSS about a service or provider that we do not fund, we are unlikely to be able to help you. But someone will tell you who to contact instead.

Examples of complaints people have made about DSS funded services have included:

quality of care
supports are not responsive to te ao Māori
choice of activities at home
personal care and hygiene
food choices
treatment by a support worker
physical environment (such as your home).

How to make a complaint to your service provider

Disability providers have processes for managing feedback and complaints. It is often quicker and easier for you to raise issues directly with them.

They are there to support you and may be able to resolve your issue straight away. We recommend making a complaint as soon as you can.

You can have a family member, whānau, friend, or an advocate to support you.

Details of your complaint will only be shared with the people directly involved in managing your complaint.

Your disability service provider must:

give you written information about how to make a complaint.
tell you what the complaints process is, for example, who you can go and complain to.
tell you what is happening with your complaint.
let you know what else you can do.

How to raise a complaint about a provider with DSS

We want to hear about your experience with your service provider or disability supports. By making a complaint, you help us to understand what is not going well for you and where there are opportunities to make improvements.

To make a complaint about a disability support or service, please download and fill in the following form:

Complaint Form for disability support and services (DOCX 98 KB).

If you have positive or general feedback, suggestions, ideas or concerns that you don't think fit under the category of complaints, please go to the Feedback page of this website.

You can send us your completed form:

by email: quality@msd.govt.nz
by free post to: Complaints about Disability Support Services – Ministry of Social Development, Reply Paid: 262204 PO BOX 1556 Wellington 6140

If you prefer to talk to someone or are unable to fill out the form, that is OK, please contact us by:

calling 0800 566 601(Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm)
email us at quality@msd.govt.nz

All complaints will be taken seriously. If you complain to DSS about a service or provider that we do not fund, we are unlikely to be able to help you. But someone will tell you who to contact instead.

Get support with making a complaint

You can ask an advocate, friend, support worker, family member or whānau to help you make a complaint.

There are services available that can support you:

New Zealand Relay Service external: You can contact the New Zealand Relay Service for help making a complaint. Relay services are for people who are Deaf, hearing impaired, Deafblind, and for those with speech impairments who want to communicate with friends, family or organisations. You can phone them on 0800 771 771.

Nationwide Health and Disability Advocacy Service external: If you need support with making a complaint, you can contact the Nationwide Health and Disability Advocacy Service, a free independent service that offers advice and support related to the complaints process. You can contact them by phone on 0800 555 050 or email at advocacy@advocacy.org.nz.

What to expect when you make a complaint

If you make a complaint, you can expect that:

there will be someone you can talk with about your concerns using your preferred method of communication (in English, in Te Reo Māori, in NZSL, in another language, or in writing. Please let us know your preference.)
your concerns will be taken seriously
you will be treated with respect
your privacy and confidentiality will be respected
your concerns will be resolved as quickly as possible
you will know the outcome of your complaint
if you make a complaint, it will not negatively affect the care you receive.

What happens after you make a complaint to DSS

The information you give us is confidential. It will only be shared with the people directly involved in managing your complaint. You will be asked to give us your consent about what information you are happy for us to share. If you do not feel comfortable, you do not have to tell us your name.

If you make a complaint to DSS, we will aim to contact you as soon as possible.

We may need to talk to other people about your complaint. This may include talking to other people involved. We will need your consent to do this. Depending on the nature of your complaint, we will let you know next steps via email. If you would prefer to be contacted another way, for example by phone, or/and in a language other than English, please let us know when you make the complaint.

We will let you know the outcome of your complaint and the reasons for our decisions. We aim to resolve complaints within 20 working days.

More complex complaints may take longer than 20 days to assess and resolve. We will let you know if this is the case and provide you with regular updates.

For a detailed description of what DSS does when managing a complaint about the quality of disability supports see Quality and Safeguarding external.

What to do if you are not satisfied with the outcome

If you are still not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you can contact:

or go to their website hdc.org.nz external

The Human Rights Commission

Freephone 0800 49 68 77

email infoline@hrc.co.nz

or go to their website tikatangata.org.nz external

The Privacy Commission

Freephone 0800 80 39 09

email enquiries@privacy.org.nz

or go to their website privacy.org.nz external

Make a complaint about DSS policies or staff members

It is your right to give feedback or to make a complaint about DSS policies or staff members. To make a complaint about the Ministry of Social Development Disability Support Services policies or our staff, please visit our make a complaint about DSS page.

Updated on 17 December 2024