Complainants who are not satisfied with the outcome of their complaint may request an independent review by the TIO’s Review Officer.

The Review Officer’s primary focus when reviewing a complaint is to ensure that a fair and reasonable outcome has been achieved. The Review Officer ensures that:
• all relevant industry legislation, codes and standards have been considered
• the decision reached by the Investigation or Enquiry Officer is consistent with TIO policy, procedure, and practice
• the decision has been well documented and explained to the complainant.

The Review Officer reports directly to the Deputy Ombudsman, and is responsible for independently reviewing the outcome of Enquiries and level 1, 2, 3, and in some instances, administrative level 4 complaints.

In 2004/05, 338 reviews were requested, a 3.7% increase from the previous year. During the same period, the TIO completed a total of 300 reviews.

In 70% of cases, the Review Officer concluded that a complete and thorough investigation had been conducted by the Investigations or Enquiry Officer, and agreed that a fair and reasonable outcome to the complaint had been achieved.

In 17.6% of cases, additional information was sought before concluding that a fair and reasonable outcome had been achieved in the first instance. 11% of cases were returned to the relevant Investigations or Enquiry Officer for further investigation. In 1.4% of cases, the TIO’s initial finding was overturned following additional investigation of the complaint.

TIO members

TIO members may ask for the classification of a complaint against them to be reconsidered. These requests should initially be directed to the Investigation or Enquiry Officer handling the complaint and are considered on a case-by-case basis.

If a member is dissatisfied with the way in which its request or enquiry has been handled, it may ask that the matter be referred to the Member Communications Adviser. In handling requests for reclassification, the TIO seeks to ensure that its guidelines for classification have been appropriately and fairly applied.