It feels like changes are occurring daily at the moment. The current topic for implementation is the plan to merge the Housing, Parliamentary and Health and Local Government Ombudsmen into one large public body.
At the moment there are 17 different ombudsman schemes including:
- The “Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman” dealing with central government issues and the NHS;
- the “Local Government Ombudsman” being responsible for local councils; and
- the “Housing Ombudsman” deals with disputes between landlords and tenants.
As with all reforms the idea is to create a “simplified, improved and more accessible final tier of redress for customers of public services who have complained and who do not feel satisfied by how their complaint has been handled”.
The role of the ombudsman being a last resort for dealing with unresolved issues will continue to be a last resort solution. Parties should always try to resolve matters before referring to the Ombudsman. A tenant of a registered housing provider must always give the landlord an opportunity to solve the issue before referring it any further.
As a consequence of rising costs, more and more clients wish to avoid court fees and refer their disagreement before the Ombudsman rather than issuing court proceedings and therefore the services of the Ombudsman needs changing to meet the increase in demand.
Research suggests that consumers found themselves confused as to which Ombudsman had jurisdiction to hear their case. Many felt that complaining was not worth the effort and that nothing would be done to fix the maladministration they suffered.
The reform is designed to avoid users not knowing which ombudsman to turn to when their complaint has not been resolved directly with their landlord. It follows a report commissioned by the Parliament in 2014 ‘to test whether the current public sector ombudsman sector is best for citizens and Parliament, and whether it provided value for money’.
The report highlighted the opportunity to improve the customer’s overall experience through an integrated service, and improve the public service system.
Dame Julie Mellor is the current Chair of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and believes that people guessed as to whether or not the services they are receiving falls within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. She also added that the creation of this new service should:
- remove the confusion as to which ombudsmen to refer to;
- increase the investigation volume so as to meet customer’s demand; and
- introduce a set of promises customers can expect from the ombudsman’s services, as well as aiming for more transparency and consistency over the investigation method.
I am supportive of a simpler and more transparent service making it easier for the consumers to access the service. Some ombudsman schemes and complaint services have a legal framework while others are voluntary and operated by the relevant industry. This creates a service of inconsistency and delays. I would like to see the new Ombudsman service work but the cynic in me asks at this point though, how many times has an idea for reform actually been successful?
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