Ombudsman's plea for wider powers to deal with complaints about councils and social care

Mr King told the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee that current rules which mean that only those who are deemed to have suffered a “personal injustice” can have their complaints considered by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) means that people who have genuine concerns about broader community issues are unable to use the process.

“The situation is when someone makes a complaint they have to satisfy requirements from the 1970s that not only have they got a legitimate concern about some aspect of administration, they also have to show that concern has had a direct impact on them and has caused them some harm or loss.

“It is an old fashioned transactional view that the only things you care about are things that have impacted you personally. Recently I can recall one where we had the chair of school governors come up to us wanting to complain about really poor support for somebody with special educational needs at her school. We couldn’t look at that because they weren’t directly affected.

“We had another one where an MP’s office came to us about loss of planning control over traveller sites adjacent to a village. We could only look at parts of that complaint because people couldn’t show they weren’t directly suffering some loss. Similarly we get complaints about loss of community assets and open space.”

Mr King made the comments following the recent launch of the Ombudsman’s Triennial Review. The review’s recommendations highlight that broadening the number of people able to make complaints should be a simple process.

It states: “Amend the LGSCO’s remit to enable it to deal with legitimate complaints about maladministration brought by concerned local citizens, where that person has not suffered personal injustice, but where injustice exists.

“This could be achieved through a minor amendment to two sections of the Local Government Act 1974, thereby filling a significant gap in the accountability framework without unnecessary complexity.”

The review states that the Ombudsman is currently “unlikely” to be able to handle complaints from councillors who feel dissatisfied at the handling of a local authority complaint against a fellow councillor “because they would not likely be able to show they experienced sufficient levels of personal injustice from the council’s actions”.

It states there is an “accountability gap” which is preventing the investigation of “legitimate concerns about injustice to others caused by alleged fault”.

The report states the current situation is undermining public confidence in the Ombudsman’s operations.

Review follows consultation with local and national government

The Ombudsman’s Triennial Review has been created following consultation with central and local government, as well as representatives from the social care and education sectors.

Its widespread recommendations cover areas across its remit, from updating its jurisdiction for local government, strengthening its voice in education and adult social care, and calling for a greater concentration on improved complaints handling across the board.

Mr King said: “We think now is the time to renew and refresh our legislation to ensure we are meeting the needs of service users and the sectors at large.”

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