The NSO publishes investigation report into confidentiality requirements in university complaint-handling

The NSO has Own Motion Investigation (OMI) powers under the Ombudsman Act 1976 (the Act) and the Ombudsman Regulations (2017). These powers enable the NSO to identify and report on systemic issues affecting students across the higher education sector.

We have released our first OMI report: Can I talk about this? The use of confidentiality requirements in university complaint-handling.

Confidentiality requirements are often included in university complaints handling policies, which means they automatically apply to students who make a complaint, or have a complaint made against them. We investigated these requirements as students and student advocates had told us that confidentiality was being applied in unfair and unnecessarily restrictive ways, leading to students feeling isolated and silenced about their complaint experience.

Our investigation found that while there is good reason for including confidentiality in processes such as complaints handling, excessive or confusing confidentiality requirements are operating to prevent students from talking about their experience and are impacting students seeking support from services, such as counselling, health, or external complaint avenues, like the NSO.

Our investigation covered the impact of excessive confidentiality requirements in complaints involving gender-based violence. When viewed through a trauma-informed lens, we found that confidentiality requirements can conflict with victim-survivor recovery needs.

We made 7 practical recommendations to the sector to improve the design, use, and communication of confidentiality requirements in complaint handling, including:

• releasing students from confidentiality requirements at the end of a complaint process;
• ensuring exceptions to confidentiality are clearly included in policies to allow students to seek support; and
• providing plain English guidance to students to explain how any confidentiality requirement work.

“Confidentiality obligations should be reasonable, proportionate, and clear. Excessive confidentiality can cause a complainant to feel silenced or disempowered about the experience they had that led them to complain.” – Iain Anderson, National Student Ombudsman.

When confidentiality requirements are applied fairly and clearly communicated, student wellbeing and voice are better protected.

Read the full report including our findings and recommendations.