The Office of the Ombudsman’s newly released Protected Disclosure Survey shows fewer New Zealanders are reporting the serious wrongdoing they witness — and most who do speak up still pay a price. For organisations, the findings point to a clear conclusion: confidence in speaking up depends on independence.
The Office of the Ombudsman has released its 2026 Protected Disclosure Survey, the latest in a national tracking study that has run since 2019. Conducted in April 2026 with a nationwide sample of just over 1,000 people, the survey measures how well New Zealanders understand the Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Act 2022 and, more importantly, whether they feel able to act on it. This year’s results are sobering, and they carry a direct message for every employer that wants its people to speak up.
What the survey found
Awareness of the Act has slipped, with around three in ten people now aware of it — down six points on last year. Among those who have heard of it, the share who feel they understand what it actually covers fell sharply, and across the wider population genuine working knowledge of the Act sits at little more than one in ten.
The reporting numbers are more concerning still. Just under a quarter of respondents have witnessed serious wrongdoing at work, but only 37% of them went on to make a protected disclosure — down sharply on the previous year, and among the lowest rates the survey has recorded. In other words, most people who see something seriously wrong say nothing through the formal channels designed to protect them.
When people do come forward, the experience is too often a difficult one. Among those who made a protected disclosure, more than half reported negative consequences as a result: being treated differently by colleagues, bullying or harassment, losing their job, or being demoted. The survey’s authors are blunt about what this means — once people speak up, the system is not shielding them from harm as well as it should.
Underpinning all of this is fear. Fewer than half of workers believe their job would be safe if they reported wrongdoing, and “being afraid” is now the single most common reason people give for staying silent with their employer — a record high. Confidence in confidentiality is fragile, too: only around four in ten believe their identity would be genuinely protected, while a quarter do not, and the rest are unsure. And among the workers who did not feel their job would be safe, anonymity and confidentiality remained the most important thing that would make reporting feel safer — the single protection people most wanted before coming forward.
Why independence matters
The Ombudsman’s recommendations focus on lifting awareness, communicating more clearly about how confidentiality is protected in practice rather than just in legislation, and better supporting people after they disclose. Those are the right priorities. But the survey also surfaces something an organisation cannot fix with a policy document alone: the barriers that keep people silent are barriers of trust.
Look at what the survey identifies as the main reasons people hold back — fear of their employer, doubt that a concern will be handled fairly, worry that confidentiality won’t hold, and unease about conflicts of interest. These are precisely the obstacles that an internal-only reporting line struggles to overcome. When the person you are expected to report to belongs to the very organisation the concern is about — and is sometimes the manager involved — it is little wonder that so many decide it is safer to say nothing. Tellingly, when workers in the survey were asked what would help, some pointed directly to external and independent reporting options as a way to avoid bias and conflicts of interest.
This is exactly why a growing number of organisations choose to run their protected disclosures through an independent, external provider rather than relying on internal channels alone. An external service sits outside the organisation’s own hierarchy, which removes the conflict of interest at the heart of so much hesitation. It can offer credible, consistent confidentiality — and, where appropriate, anonymity — the very assurances the survey shows people most want, backed by secure, purpose-built channels rather than an internal inbox. It brings impartial, experienced handling that reduces the risk of a disclosure being mishandled or a discloser being exposed to retaliation. And it provides the ongoing policy review and reporting that keep an organisation genuinely compliant with the 2022 Act, not merely compliant on paper.
A simple test for boards
The 2026 survey is a useful prompt for leadership teams to ask one straightforward question: if someone in our organisation saw something seriously wrong tomorrow, would they feel safe enough to raise it — and confident it would be handled properly and kept confidential? On the evidence of this year’s results, far too many New Zealanders would answer no.
An independent disclosure service is designed to change that answer. Whistleblowers, operated by Incident Response Solutions Limited, gives New Zealand organisations a fully independent, PDA-compliant disclosure platform: secure reporting by phone, website, email and post, 24/7 support, expert and impartial handling of disclosures, and regular policy review and reporting. It is a practical way to turn the right to speak up into something people actually feel able to use.
To learn more about how an independent channel could work for your organisation, explore our Services or call 0800 WITNESS (0800 948 637).
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