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Ombudsmen
are useful people when it comes to putting mistakes right.
If you complain to an organisation and they don't sort
things out then an ombudsman might be able to help. They
are the people who are at the top of the complaints ladder
and to whom you can turn for help when all else has failed.
There
are over 20 ombudsmen in the United Kingdom and Ireland,
and they all look into different kinds of complaints.
To find out more about the different ombudsmen 
click
here.
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What
does an ombudsman do? |
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Ombudsmen
are independent, impartial and provide a free service.
They investigate complaints that haven't been solved
by the organisation complained against. Ombudsmen
investigate complaints when something has been handled
badly or unfairly, making someone suffer as a result.
This is sometimes called maladministration. Examples
might include unreasonable delay, rudeness, failure
to follow proper procedures, bias, knowingly giving
advice which is misleading or
inadequate, and refusing to answer reasonable questions.
When
an ombudsman investigates a complaint he or she
can either uphold (find it in the favour of the
person who has complained) or not uphold it (find
that the organisation complained about has not behaved
wrongly). The ombudsman can usually recommend redress:
a sort of compensation for what has gone wrong.
To
read some examples of maladministration and redress,
click
here.
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Why
are they called ombudsmen? |
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Ombudsman
is a Swedish word and means representative or agent
of the people. It is used for both men and women.
Sweden had the first ombudsman in 1809 and other
countries used the word when they appointed ombudsmen
of their own.
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Why
should I learn about ombudsmen? |
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It
is certainly useful to know about your own rights
in case you have a complaint in the future which
you want to take to an ombudsman. But the knowledge,
activities and information on this website should
also help you to develop skills you need for the
Citizenship section of the National Curriculum.
You can find out how ombudsmen fit into the way
parliament and the criminal justice system work,
and learn how to express your own complaint or concerns
effectively.
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Can
anyone who looks at complaints be an ombudsman? |
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No,
ombudsmen in the UK and Ireland have their own
organisation called the British and Irish Ombudsman
Association (BIOA). In order to be recognised
by BIOA an ombudsman scheme has to meet four
conditions. |
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are: |
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Independence
from the organisations the ombudsman has the
power to investigate. It is very important
that ombudsmen are independent. This means
that they can look at your complaint without
bias; |
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Effectiveness.
This means that an ombudsman's findings should
be acted upon and not ignored; |
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Fairness.
This means that the ombudsman does not favour
either the complainant or the organisation
complained about; and |
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Public
accountability. This is achieved in different
ways. Some ombudsmen publish anonymised results
of their investigations, either individual
reports or summaries in their Annual Reports.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
reports to Parliament on her work. |
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Can
the ombudsman investigate anything I disagree with? |
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 No,
ombudsmen have rules about the things that they
can investigate. These rules set the framework for
what they cannot do; for what they can and cannot
investigate and what powers they have after an investigation.
Most ombudsmen have been set up by statute (law)
but others have been set up voluntarily by the sector
that they investigate.
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How
do I find out more about different types of ombudsmen
and their jurisdiction? |
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The
best place to start when looking for information
about ombudsmen is the BIOA website at www.bioa.org.uk.
Here you will find links to individual ombudsmen's
websites and more general  information
about ombudsmen and their work. You will also find
a list of all the ombudsmen in the UK and Ireland,
as well as a number of other organisations which
investigate complaints.
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