An introduction to the Local Government Ombudsman service
Steven Cuthbertson, an Investigator in the Ombudsman’s Coventry office, gives an insight into the workings of the Local Government Ombudsman service.
Background
The Commission for Local Administration in England is an independent statutory body established by the Local Government Act 1974 (the Act). The Commission is made up of three Local Commissioners, who are usually referred to as Local Government Ombudsmen (LGOs), with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman) as an ex officio member.
The two main statutory functions of the Commission are:
- to assist the LGOs to investigate complaints; and
- to provide bodies within jurisdiction advice and guidance on good administrative practice.
Who are the Local Government Ombudsmen?
There are three LGOs:
- Tony Redmond joined the Commission as Chairman in November 2001 and is based in the Commission’s London office.
- Jerry White, whose office is in Coventry, became a Local Government Ombudsman in March 1995.
- Anne Seex, whose office is in York, became a Local Government Ombudsman in October 2005.
Each of the Ombudsmen deal with complaints from a specific geographical area. Investigators take most decisions on their Ombudsman’s behalf. They have extensive delegated powers and they are responsible for the day to day handling of complaints.
Jurisdiction
Which bodies are within the LGOs’ jurisdiction?
The majority of complaints that the Ombudsmen investigate are about the administrative actions of district, borough, city and county councils. However there are many other bodies within their jurisdiction. These cover a wide range of authorities who provide local services and include such bodies as education appeal panels, national parks authorities and housing action trusts. A definitive list can be found in Section 25 (1) of the Act from which it will be noted that parish and town councils are not within the LGOs’ jurisdiction.
On 1 August 2007 the Regulatory Reform (Collaboration etc between Ombudsmen) Order 2007 came into force. In broad terms the Order enables the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the Local Government Ombudsmen for England and the Health Service Ombudsman for England to work together collaboratively on cases and issues that are relevant to more than one of their individual jurisdictions. Examples of complaints that may fall within this category include the provision of health and social care; complaints about the administration of housing and welfare benefits; and complaints about some planning and environmental issues.
What can LGOs investigate?
The Act makes it clear that in considering complaints the Ombudsmen have to have regard to at least three factors: injustice, maladministration, and administrative functions. Section 26 (1) says:
“….where a written complaint is made by or on behalf of a member of the public who claims to have suffered injustice in consequence of maladministration in connection with action taken by or on behalf of an authority to which this Part of this Act applies, being action taken in the exercise of administrative functions of that authority, a Local Commissioner may investigate that complaint.”
While it may be relatively straightforward to decide if a matter complained about is an administrative action, the legislation does not define maladministration or injustice.
Typical findings of maladministration might include an authority:
- taking too long to do something;
- not following its own policies or the law;
- breaking a promise;
- giving the wrong information;
- treating someone unfairly.
Just as maladministration is undefined so is the term injustice. Examples of injustice that the Ombudsmen have found include:
- not getting a service or benefit to which someone was entitled;
- suffering financial loss;
- being put to a lot of avoidable expense, trouble or inconvenience;
- being denied the opportunity to comment on a particular issue.
The Ombudsmen are only too aware that what one person might see as grossly unfair treatment by a local authority others might regard as little more than an irritation. But ultimately, just as it is the Ombudsmen who have to determine whether something constitutes maladministration, so it is the Ombudsmen who have to come to a view on injustice. Sometimes they reject complaints because, although there might have been some administrative fault, there is no evidence that the person making the complaint has suffered injustice as a result. In other cases complaints are not pursued because the Ombudsman considers that the claimed injustice is insignificant.
The Ombudsmen cannot consider complaints about every administrative function of the authorities in their jurisdiction. Some matters are expressly excluded. For example the Ombudsmen may not investigate complaints about:
- the commencement or conduct of civil or criminal proceedings before a court;
- certain commercial transactions;
- action in respect of appointments or removals, pay, discipline, superannuation or other personnel matters;
- the giving of instruction or conduct, curriculum, internal organisation, management or discipline in any school or other educational establishment maintained by the authority.
A full list of the absolute bars can be found in Schedule 5 to the Act.
In broad terms where a clear alternative remedy is easily available to an aggrieved member of the public the Ombudsmen would generally expect them to use that route to seek redress. The Act gives the Ombudsmen discretion to consider some issues, provided they are satisfied that it would not be reasonable to expect someone to use that alternative remedy.
Similarly complaints must be made within 12 months from the date on which an aggrieved person was first aware of the matter complained about. The LGOs have discretion to investigate a complaint that is made out of time if they consider it is reasonable to do so.
The complaint investigation process
For the purposes of an investigation LGOs have the same powers as the High Court in respect of the attendance and examination of witnesses and the production of documents. The Ombudsmen may require anyone to provide information and documents during the course of an investigation.
Complaints that are accepted for consideration are allocated to Investigators who will pursue matters on the Ombudsmen’s behalf. This may involve:
- contacting the complainant to clarify the complaint;
- asking the authority complained about to comment on a complaint;
- examining the authority’s files;
- interviewing the complainant;
- interviewing staff from the authority concerned;
- visiting a site.
The Ombudsmen’s usual practice is to write to complainants setting out a provisional view on the complaint. In this way complainants have an opportunity to comment on the Ombudsman’s initial view. Where enquiries of the authority concerned are made complainants will usually have the chance to comment on what the authority says about the complaint before a decision is made.
Sometimes a formal report is issued following an investigation but in the majority of cases complaints are determined by letter.
If the LGOs find an authority has been at fault and that the complainant has suffered an injustice as a result, they will recommend what the authority should do to put things right. While the LGOs cannot compel authorities to implement their recommendations they almost always do so.
Complaint handling
Each year for the last five years the Ombudsmen have received, on average, about 18,500 complaints. In the financial year 2006/2007 they received 18,320 complaints. The following chart shows a breakdown by subject area.
| Subject of complaint | Number |
|---|---|
| Planning and building control | 4,333 |
| Housing | 3,912 |
| Transport and highways | 1,845 |
| Social services | 1,480 |
| Education | 1,448 |
| Benefits | 1,121 |
| Public finance (including council tax) | 1,059 |
| Antisocial behaviour | 766 |
| Environmental health | 731 |
| Land | 325 |
| Commercial | 201 |
| Other | 1,099 |
| Total | 18,320 |
During the same period 18,192 complaints were determined. The following chart gives a breakdown of the outcome of those complaints.
| Outcome | Number |
|---|---|
| Local settlement | 2,956 |
| Maladministration causing injustice issued report | 132 |
| Maladministration, no injustice issued report | 5 |
| No maladministration issued report | 1 |
| No or insufficient evidence of maladministration (without report) | 4,952 |
| Ombudsman’s discretion | 2,631 |
| Premature complaints | 5,123 |
| Outside jurisdiction | 2,392 |
| Total | 18,192 |
A note on terminology:
Premature complaints are those that are not accepted for consideration by the LGOs because the authorities concerned have not had a reasonable opportunity to deal with them first. The LGOs usually send these premature complaints to the authorities concerned with a request that they should investigate them. If a complainant is not satisfied with the outcome of the authority’s investigation, he or she can complain to the Ombudsman again.
One of the changes introduced by the Regulatory Reform Order means that LGOs now have the discretion to investigate a complaint that has not previously been notified to the local authority concerned.
The term local settlement is used to describe the outcome of a complaint where, during the course of the Ombudsman’s consideration of the complaint, the authority takes, or agrees to take, some action that the Ombudsman considers is a satisfactory response to the complaint and the investigation is discontinued. This may occur, for example, when the authority:
- on its own initiative says that there was fault that caused injustice, and proposes a remedy which the Ombudsman accepts is satisfactory;
- accepts the suggestion by the Ombudsman, as an independent person, that there was fault which caused injustice, and agrees a remedy which the Ombudsman accepts is satisfactory;
Complaints described as terminated by Ombudsman’s discretion are those that have been determined because, for example:
- the complainant wishes to withdraw his or her complaint;
- the complainant has moved away and the Ombudsman is no longer able to contact him or her;
- the complainant decides to take court action; or
- the Ombudsman concludes that there is no or insufficient injustice to justify continuing the investigation.
Advice and guidance on good administrative practice
The Ombudsmen are committed to delivering public value in all aspects of their role, not just in complaint handling. One area that has seen a great increase in activity in recent years is in the provision of advice and guidance on good administrative practice.
Digest of cases
In September 2007 the Ombudsmen published their eleventh annual Digest of Cases. This is a key reference document that summarises important decisions LGOs have made on cases during the year. The information is made widely available in printed and electronic formats so that councils, other authorities and advisers can draw general lessons about how the Ombudsmen have dealt with specific issues.
Special reports
In 2003 the Ombudsmen issued the first in a series of special reports: Advice and guidance on the funding of aftercare under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983. Its aim was to highlight lessons learned from similar complaints and give general good practice advice from the Ombudsmen. The report was issued following consultation with a wide range of external organisations. Since then seven other special reports have been issued covering a wide range of subjects:
- Advice and guidance on arrangements for forwarding housing benefit appeals to the Appeals Service (2004)
- School Admissions and Appeals (2004)
- Parking enforcement by local authorities (2004)
- Neighbour nuisance and anti-social behaviour (2005)
- Memorial safety in local authority cemeteries (2006)
- Telecommunications masts: problems with ‘prior approval’ applications (2007)
- Local partnership and citizen redress (2007)
Training for local authorities
A significant aspect of the LGOs’ activity to promote advice and guidance to bodies within jurisdiction is its external training programme. Courses are offered for all levels of local authority staff in complaint handling and investigation. The range of courses provided is expanding in response to demand. In addition to the generic Good Complaint Handling course (which focuses on identifying and processing complaints) and Effective Complaint Handling course (which focuses on investigation and resolution), these courses are also offered specifically for social services staff. Other courses are currently being piloted.
Courses are presented by experienced LGO Investigators so that participants can be confident that the presenter has genuine practical expertise in complaint handling. LGO staff delivered 121 such courses in 2006/07.
More information
The LGO website contains more information about the role of the LGO. Downloadable versions of most of the publications referred to above, as well as other publications, are available. For the Adviceline call 0845 602 1983.