LGO calls for ways to assure redress where its recommendations are ignored

The Local Government Ombudsman has called for proposals on how the accountability of services can be assured in cases where its recommendations are not followed, in a consultation on its corporate strategy for 2015-2018.

The consultation, launched earlier this month, said that while the Ombudsman’s recommendations were not legally binding on bodies in its jurisdiction, in the vast majority of cases they are complied with. There were, however, a small number of cases where a remedy was not provided.

The LGO said it would work more closely with the scrutiny functions of bodies, such as boards and elected councillors, to ensure that bodies that do not provide a remedy are accountable for that decision. It also wanted proposals on how else people can be assured of redress.

In addition the consultation asks whether the Ombudsman should seek to address wider injustice through a greater number of systemic investigations, and whether the LGO should have powers to conduct investigations on its own initiative where – although there has been no individual complaint – it has prima facie evidence of injustice being caused to individuals.

Other questions in the consultation include whether:

• the Ombudsman’s strategic objectives are right;
• the LGO should apply the relevant provisions of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Directive to all areas of its work;
• the Ombudsman should use its experience of complaints to develop clear expectations of what the public can expect from complaint handling by bodies in our jurisdiction;
• those standards should be applied by the LGO to inform decisions about whether there has been service failure or maladministration by a body in our jurisdiction.

On the question of the ADR directive, which comes into effect in July 2015, the Ombudsman said it would apply to some areas of its work, most notably privately funded social care.

For those areas of its work it will be required to meet certain standards including: confirming whether it can investigate, or explaining why it cannot, within three weeks of receiving a complaint; completing an investigation within 90 days of receiving the complaint file.

“We will ensure that we meet these requirements for all areas of work covered by the directive, although in many cases we already meet or exceed them,” it said. “However, we consider that everyone that uses our service should be entitled to receive the same level of service, irrespective of whether their complaint falls within the scope of the directive.”

The LGO therefore proposed that it should voluntarily apply the relevant provisions of the directive to all of its work.

The consultation, which runs until 3 October, can be viewed here.

The introduction to the consultation said: “The role of the Local Government Ombudsman is clear and unambiguous - to remedy injustice and improve local public services. However, in a rapidly changing public service landscape the way we deliver that role needs to adapt to ensure that we stay relevant to people’s needs.

“We need to do more to ensure that the complexities in public services do not act as a barrier to remedying injustice. Equally, the increased number of bodies that deliver public services must not limit our ability to share learning and improve those services.”

It added: “Our draft corporate strategy for 2015-18 sets out our approach to meeting those challenges by becoming more relevant to people’s experiences of public services and more resilient to financial pressures that all public bodies face.”