2003 Public views on Ombudsmen
This page contains an outline of this research, and a summary of the key findings. Details of how to find the full report can be found at the bottom of the page.
Title
“Ombudsman awareness survey 2003. Survey of the general public and advisory bodies”
What is it about?
A research study was commissioned jointly by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and the Local Government Ombudsman to explore:
- people’s experience of complaining to and about public services
- the current level of public awareness of the three public sector ombudsman services
- advice sector awareness of and satisfaction with the three public sector ombudsman services
Who did it?
The study was conducted by Market & Opinion Research International (MORI) in 2003. MORI set up four focus groups with young people, black and minority ethnic (BME) first-generation residents, residents from a deprived area, and residents from a rural area. They also conducted a mini focus group and interviews with representatives of advisory bodies, and a nationally representative survey of adults and advice sector agencies and workers.
Key findings
Complaining about public services
A quarter of the public has complained about their treatment to one of the organisations within the ombudsmen’s jurisdiction. Of these, 48% say they were dissatisfied with the final outcome of their complaint, but only 2% of these consequently contacted the ombudsmen.
Another 26% wanted to make a complaint about a public service, but had not done so because:
- They believed it would not do any good.
- They could not be bothered.
- They had had experience of complaining unsuccessfully in the past.
- They were afraid that complaining would affect the standard of service they would receive in the future.
Awareness
Far fewer people have heard of the Health Service (45%), Local Government (44%) and Parliamentary Ombudsman (37%) than Citizens Advice Bureaux (95%), the Police Complaints Authority (72%) (since replaced by the Independent Police Complaints Commission) and OFSTED (69%). This lack of recognition is most notable in younger, unskilled/unemployed and BME groups.
Advisers in this survey do not feel well informed about the ombudsmen, but they are likely to have received more literature about the Local Government Ombudsmen (44%) than about the Health Service (22%) or Parliamentary Ombudsman (24%).
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Members of the public thought that ombudsmen were:
- independent (33%)
- a last resort (28%)
- fair (25%)
- something for ordinary people (20%)
However, 19% thought the ombudsmen were bureaucratic, 16% thought they were difficult to get hold of and 12% thought they were slow.
Advisers
Three-quarters of advisers (73%) believe that ordinary people find the ombudsmen intimidating. Some felt the ombudsmen are seen as part of the “Establishment” and not accessible. Although the majority of advisers think that the organizations within the ombudsmen’s jurisdiction act on recommendations made (56%), being “powerful” was not an attribute associated with ombudsmen by either the general public or advisers. Nevertheless, a large majority of advisers (77%) are fairly or very likely to refer clients to the ombudsmen.
