Making a complaint about Community Probation & Psychological Services

Your right to make a complaint
Community Probation & Psychological Services (CPPS) aims to carry out its duties fairly and professionally. But if you have an issue or concern with any aspect of our work, you have the right to make a complaint.

How to make a complaint
If you have a complaint, talk to a CPPS staff member. You can also talk to your probation officer (if you have one), or their manager. They will do their best to deal with your complaint fairly, professionally and confidentially. They may need to involve their manager or other staff. If your complaint cannot be addressed in this way, you can choose to make a formal complaint.

Making a formal complaint
A formal complaint will be passed to a CPPS area manager. They will investigate your complaint further, and may involve other staff or more senior management if necessary. You will be kept updated throughout the process of dealing with your complaint.

You can make a formal complaint directly to CPPS by:

• completing and signing a Complaints Form (available from your local CPPS office or your probation officer)
• sending a signed letter, or an email, to your local CPPS office that outlines your complaint in detail
• talking to a CPPS staff member, who will record your complaint for you to sign
• sending a signed letter of complaint to a CPPS regional manager or the Community Probation & Psychological Services general manager (contact your local CPPS office for contact details)
• writing directly to the Inspector of Corrections or the Ombudsman

Your complaint will then be sent to the local CPPS area manager.

What happens next
Once the area manager receives your complaint, they will:

• write to you to say that your complaint has been received
• register your complaint in a database
• start a fact-finding process to see if further investigation or action is warranted.

You will be contacted regularly throughout the process of dealing with your complaint, and told about the outcome of the investigation. You may also be contacted for more information during the investigation.

Who else can you talk to?
If you don’t want to discuss your complaint with CPPS, you can take your complaint directly to:

• the Inspector of Corrections, whose job it is to deal with complaints
  about the Department of Corrections, or
• the Ombudsman.

You can also contact them at any time during the complaints process.

Inspector of Corrections
The Senior Inspector
Department of Corrections
Private Box 1206, Wellington

Freephone: 0800 225 697

The Ombudsman
PO Box 10 152
The Terrace, Wellington

Freephone: 0800 662 837

To get help or more information
If you need help at any time with any aspect of the complaints process, or if you need more information, you can talk to a CPPS staff member.