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 activities |
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click
on activity above 
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Write
a letter to an ombudsman
If
you want an ombudsman to investigate your complaint,
you will have to contact to him or her. It is a good
idea to obtain the relevant ombudsman's leaflet and
read it before you send in your complaint. Some ombudsmen
will require you to write down your complaint. Many
ombudsmen have a complaint form and it might be easier
to fill this in. If you have any difficulty, you can
ask a friend, relative, or someone such as your local
MP or Citizens Advice
Bureau to help you. Someone else can represent
your concerns, provided the ombudsman is satisfied
they are doing so on your behalf.
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In order for an ombudsman to be able to say whether
or not they can investigate your problem, it is important
to include all the information they might need. If
you write to an ombudsman, your letter should say:
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Who
you are and how to contact you. |
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Without
this the ombudsman or representative won't
know how to reach you if they have any questions!
If you are writing on behalf of someone else
say how you know them and why they can't complain
themselves.
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Who
the organisation or person you are complaining
about is, including their job title if you know
it. |
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ombudsman may want to ask the organisation or
person what they think about the problem. |
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What
happened, and when. |
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out exactly what you think happened and when
can help the ombudsman to find out whether your
problem was dealt with correctly. It might help
to include a chronology - a list of dates and
the events that took place - especially if your
complaint took a long time. This makes it easier
for an ombudsman to see if the organisation's
version of events agrees with yours and to spot
any mistakes they may have made. |
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What
the organisation or person did when you complained
to them, and why you don't think that was good
enough. |
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ombudsmen will need you to have complained directly
to the organisation before coming to them. Saying
what they did (or didn't) do about it helps
to explain why you are still not happy. |
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What
you want the ombudsman to achieve for you. |
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you want an apology? An explanation? Do you
want changes made so that the same thing doesn't
happen again? Or are you looking to have a mistake
put right, hoping for compensation, or something
else? Most ombudsmen will not investigate unless
they think they can achieve something of this
sort for you. |
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Whether
you are planning to take the problem to court,
or to sue the organisation or person involved. |
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are not allowed to look at problems which are
going to be taken to court, so you should tell
them if this is the case. |
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It
is also important to include any documents
which relate to your complaint. These could
be letters to and from the organisation or
person you are complaining about, records
(such as school records or medical records),
bills and bank statements or anything else
you think is important. Make sure you send
the originals if you have them. If you can't
supply certain information, say why.
Documents
like these support your argument and can help
to prove what you say. Ombudsmen need the
originals, but they will return them to you
once they have copied them. An ombudsman can't
ask the organisation you are complaining about
to hand over documents until they have decided
to investigate the case, so the more information
you can provide, the quicker and easier it
is for them to decide.
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Role
Play
How
would you sort out a problem you had with your hospital,
local council, or a government agency? Going to
an ombudsman should not be your first choice; can
you think why you might not have been able to get
a result earlier? Why not try out the role plays
below - take it in turns to play each of the different
characters and try to see the problem from different
points of view.
In
each role play, try to answer the questions:
What am I trying to achieve?
How can I make this happen?
Why do I want this problem solved?
If
you are taking the role of the ombudsman, think
about which parts of a complaint you can look at.
Remember to be fair to both sides and follow the
rules you have learnt about what different ombudsman
can investigate.
for
role plays 
click here
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Quiz
click here |
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Presentation
The
BIOA website lists all
the different ombudsmen who are members of the British
and Irish Ombudsman Association. Pick one ombudsman
organisation and try to find out more about it. When
was it founded? What can it investigate? What sort
of redress might it recommend? Are there any limitations
on its powers? |
You
can use this site and links from the BIOA site to
get more detailed information about individual ombudsman
schemes. Why not also look in your school or local
library, or see if your nearest Citizen's Advice Bureau
has any leaflets?
Present your project to your class, and be ready for
any questions they may have! |
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Teachers Notes
click here |
back
to list
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pdf of letter to view and print
Why
don't you try writing letters for some
of the cases in the section on maladministration
or redress, or come up with some complaints
yourself?