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Public Services Ombud for Wales
This page contains information about the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW), including:
What it does
Advantages and disadvantages
Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes
What it does
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales is a new body which investigates complaints about all public services in Wales. This service takes the place of the Local Government Ombudsman for Wales, the Health Service Commissioner for Wales and the Welsh Administration Ombudsman.
The bodies the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales can investigate include:
- local authorities
- registered social landlords
- national health services
- the National Assembly for Wales and many of the public bodies that it funds
The Ombudsman also investigates complaints that local authority councillors, including community councillors, have not kept to their authority's code of conduct.
Local authorities include county and county borough councils, which provide the following services:
- council housing
- planning
- education
- social services
National Health Services include:
- NHS hospitals
- trusts
- health authorities
- GPs, dentists, opticians and pharmacists
The National Assembly for Wales includes all services provided by the Assembly, and Assembly funded organisations such as
- the Environment Agency for Welsh Matters
- the Welsh Development Agency
Complaints about local authorities in England are dealt with by the Local Government Ombudsman; in Scotland by the Scottish Public Services Ombud; and in Northern Ireland by the Northern Ireland Ombudsman.
Complaints about registered social landlords in England are dealt with by the Housing Ombudsman Service.
Complaints about NHS provision in England are dealt with by the Health Service Ombudsman, and in Scotland by the Scottish Public Services Ombud. Complaints about health services or about the Department of Health and Social Services in Northern Ireland are considered by the Northern Ireland Ombudsman.
Complaints about councillors in local government in England are covered by the Standards Board.
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Advantages
- it is independent of the organisations that are the subjects of the complaints it handles
- the investigation is private
- it is free
- its recommendations are usually complied with
- it is possible to get a thorough investigation - to find out what happened
- a wide range of remedies is possible
- it can influence good practice and procedures within public bodies
- it is not adversarial
Disadvantages
- it can take time to get a decision in cases where a formal public report is issued - in some cases up to six months or more
- using it can mean losing the right to seek judicial review if the investigation takes too long and so the application is out of time
- its recommendations are not binding
It is important to remember that the ombudsman is not an advocate for complainants but an independent investigator. It may also not be the best place to get significant financial compensation for an individual - the primary aim of the scheme is to remedy an injustice, and to influence good practice by councils.
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Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
The ombudsman can investigate complaints about being treated unfairly, or receiving a bad service through some failure on the part of the body providing it (“maladministration”). Maladministration refers to a fault in the way a public body has made a decision or done something.
Examples of maladministration include:
- taking too long to take action or failing to take action
- not following its own policy or rules
- treating a complainant unfairly in relation to others
- not making a decision in the correct way
- giving wrong or misleading information
The ombudsman cannot by law investigate complaints about some things - these include:
- properly made decisions that a public body or a provider of public services has a right to make even if the complainant does not agree with the decision
- personnel matters such as staff appointments, pay or discipline
- the level of rent or service charges
- most commercial or contractual matters
- teaching, curriculum, conduct, discipline and management in schools and colleges
Complaints about registered social landlords can be made by tenants, leaseholders, or by others who are not tenants, but are personally affected by the landlord's failure to act.
The decision or action must have caused injustice to the complainant. An injustice might be financial loss, a delay in receiving a service, or distress. If the ombudsman considers that the injustice is minor, or that an investigation would not result in a worthwhile outcome, the ombudsman might not agree to investigate the complaint.
You should also note that if the complaint can be taken to court, or if there is a statutory right of appeal, the ombudsman can refuse to investigate it, unless he thinks that this would be unreasonable.
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Cost
The scheme is free to complainants.
Legal representation is not needed, but complainants might want to get independent advice on making a complaint.
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Timescale
The ombudsman normally expects a complaint to be made within twelve months of the complainant becoming aware of the problem. If time has already been spent complaining directly to the body concerned, the ombudsman will make allowance for that. Otherwise he will not accept a late complaint unless there is a good reason.
As this is a new body, no statistics are available yet on the time taken to deal with complaints.
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Procedure
Before complaining to the ombudsman, the complaint must first be put to the body or landlord complained about, so they have a chance to investigate and respond to the complaint. If there is no satisfactory reponse to a complaint about an NHS body, an independent review can be requested, and this should be tried before complaining to the ombudsman.
Making the complaint
Complaints should be made in writing, preferably on the ombudsman's complaint form. This can be downloaded from the website, or can be found in the PSOW leaflets. Complaints can be made in Welsh or in English. Copies of any correspondence about the issue should be sent with the complaint form.
Complainants can ask someone to complain on their behalf if they have problems with this, and someone from the ombudsman’s staff can give help and advice through their helpline.
The complaint must set out what the authority has done wrong, how it has caused personal injustice to the complainant and what the complainant believes the authority should do to put the matter right.
Note: Although sometimes the ombudsman will contact complainants for further information, it is possible that a decision will be made on the basis of the written complaint alone, so it is important to include as much information as possible.
Initial screening
An assessment officer will first decide whether the complaint can be accepted. Many complaints are not taken up by the ombudsman because the complaint has not first been made to the body concerned, or because it is outside the time limit, or it is a matter that could go to another forum such as a court or tribunal. The ombudsman will always let a complainant know whether or not their complaint will be dealt with, and if not, why not.
Settlement and investigation
There are two ways for a complaint to be resolved by the ombudsman: settlement and investigation.
The ombudsman and his staff will often try to resolve complaints informally, without the need for a full and possibly lengthy investigation. A number of complaints settle at this stage. It is the ombudsman’s office which will decide whether the settlement offer is appropriate, or whether a full investigation is needed.
If an appropriate settlement cannot be reached, or if the issue has a wider public interest, the ombudsman's office may decide to carry out an investigation into the complaint.
If at any stage the ombudsman feels that the complaint cannot be further investigated, the complainant will be given reasons for the decision.
Once the investigation is complete, the ombudsman will issue a report. Remember that the ombudsman's investigation is independent; in some cases the complaint will be upheld, and in some it will not be supported. The report is published, although the complainant is not identified.
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Outcomes
Where the ombudsman concludes that there has been injustice as a result of maladministration, he usually recommends not only a remedy for the injustice but also steps that the authority should take to avoid the same problem happening again.
Recommendations for financial compensation are sometimes made, but the aim is to restore the complainant to the position they would have been in if there had been no maladministration. Where this is not possible, sometimes a financial payment by way of compensation is recommended.
Although the recommendations are not binding, it is rare for a body not to follow them. If a body does fail to comply with the ombudsman's recommendations, the ombudsman can issue a further report and can require a statement to be published indicating that it has failed to implement the recommendations.
There is no appeal against an ombudsman's recommendation, but the complainant can still go to court with the original complaint if dissatisfied with the outcome.
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Key websites
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
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