A report says people are waiting longer, paying more and getting less information from requests filed under Nova Scotia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Review officer Catherine Tully also says the number of complaints to her office jumped 28 per cent last year and that 69 have already been filed in the first three months of this year.

Tully says more needs to be done to educate people about the act and speed up the process of getting information to applicants.

Requests for information are supposed to be resolved within 30 days, but she says the average wait time to close a file that has been sent to her office for review is two years.

Tully says she wants to get that down to 90 days.

University of King's College journalism professor Fred Vallance-Jones says the report's findings are discouraging.

Vallance-Jones says search fees for a request can climb into the thousands of dollars and that's an impediment to access.