Memorandum from the Local Government Ombudsmen
INTRODUCTION
We welcome the opportunity to give evidence
to this Inquiry. The subject of your inquiry "putting people
first" is very much at the heart of the Commission's own
strategy and development in the coming years.
We decided to respond to the first five questions
by setting out briefly the Local Government Ombudsmen's initiatives
to improve the handling of complaints by bodies within our jurisdiction;
and also to improve our own handling of the complaint made to
us by members of the public.
Question 1: Can public services learn from
the way that either non public sector organisations or overseas
governments make use of user experience in service delivery and
design?
1.1 We believe that there is much that can
be learnt from non-public sector organisations and overseas experience
(both public and non-public sector).
1.2 The LGOs are active members of the British
and Irish Ombudsman Association which has a membership from both
the public and private sector complaint bodies. Our Chairman,
Tony Redmond, is the current Chairman of BIOA. BIOA is an important
vehicle for exchange of information about best practice in the
management and operation of independent complaints bodies. Our
contacts through this body also help us to identify common themes
in our work relating to bodies in jurisdiction and how best to
meet the needs of the public we serve.
1.3 At international level the LGOs are
active participants in the International Ombudsman Institute and
the European Ombudsman Institute. We recently helped to organise
the biennial EOI conference which was held here in London. Individual
LGOs and senior staff have participated in valuable exchanges
with schemes in other countries including Australia, Serbia and
Estonia.
Question 2: Is it possible to set minimum
standards for public services? If so, how is this best done?
2.1 One of the Local Government Ombudsmen's
statutory functions is to provide advice and guidance for bodies
within their jurisdiction. Most of our guidance notes and our
special reports contain advice and recommendations on standards
of good practice. Our advice is based on our experience from the
detailed investigation of complaints but is supplemented by consultation.
When we consult we use the representative bodies of local government
and the relevant professionals but we also will consult advisory
and representative organisations.
2.2 One example is our guidance note "Running
a complaints system". This arose from a pilot study the Local
Government Ombudsmen conducted in 1998-99, involving a quarter
of the councils in England, the purpose of which was to see if
it would be reasonable to expect people to exhaust all stages
of their councils complaints procedure before we would consider
the complaints.
2.3 The perception of the majority of complainants
who took part in the study was that there was a lot of room for
improvement in councils' complaints procedures. When the Local
Government Ombudsmen discussed the results of the pilot study
with the Local Government Association, the Association suggested
that we should give councils new guidance on the handling of complaints,
and a steering group was set up comprising stakeholders from both
local and central government. The steering group made a number
of positive and practical contributions to the formulation of
the Guidance Note.
2.4 We feel it is important that bodies
in regulatory and advisory roles give bodies within jurisdiction
advice which is consistent and "joined up" and this
highlights the need for close dialogue.
Question 3: What role do measures of customer
satisfaction have in assessing the standards of public services?
How should user views be monitored? How can the cost effectiveness
of user surveys and feedback mechanisms be assessed?
3.1 We recognise the importance of feedback
from service users and other stakeholders. We use feedback to
establish our own service standards, performance measures and
development targets. We use a variety of methods to obtain feedback
including large scale surveys, qualitative work with smaller samples,
customer feedback forms and analysis of post-decision correspondence.
Our most recent customer survey was in 2005 and involved detailed
qualitative research. This was to help us to identify areas where
we could take action to improve the experience of the public who
use our service, and to identify those things that cause most
dissatisfaction. The outcome of the complaint was the main driver
of complainant satisfaction, but the survey data identified a
number of other contributory factors leading to satisfaction or
dissatisfaction. Good communication was paramount amongst these,
and in particular:
— Management of expectations at the
start.
— Making people feel that they are
at the centre of the process and are listened to.
— Clearly explaining reasons behind
decisions.
— Doing this in a timely fashion.
3.2 In response to these findings, we have
decided that the strategic development of our service over the
next three years will see particular emphasis placed on customer
focus through the introduction of a new first contact facility
in the form of an Access And Advice Service. The new Service will
focus on informing the public and their advisers about the Local
Government Ombudsmen's services, helping the public to articulate
their complaint and to make the right choices about how to pursue
their concerns. The service will be predominantly telephone based,
but will also deal with e-mail, text and letter correspondence.
It will provide special assistance to people with access difficulties
such as those with a hearing impairment or whose first language
is not English.
3.3 The new Service will be supported by
a new and more sophisticated casework and knowledge management
and information system, and work processes will be adapted to
meet the demands of the new environment by means of a service
design review. It is being developed in consultation with a wide
range of stakeholders including local authorities, complainants
and their advisers/voluntary organisations, and staff.
3.4 We have also conducted surveys to establish
awareness and public attitudes to our service. Informed by these
surveys, and other feedback such as forms we send out with complaints
leaflets, we are undertaking a series of initiatives to improve
awareness and willingness to use our services, including:
— Increased outreach work in a number
of pilot areas, including contacting a variety of groups such
as Citizens Advice Bureaux, and local advice centres supporting
young people, disabled people, carers and black and ethnic minority
communities.
— A new section of the website, and
guidance and written material, designed especially for children
and young people.
— Specially appointed investigators
trained to deal with complaints made by children and young people.
3.5 We recognise the difficulties of assessing
"cost effectiveness" of surveys and feedback mechanisms.
Clearly it is very important that public service deliverers are
aware of the views of service users and other stakeholders so
they can ensure that services are delivered appropriately. The
effectiveness is perhaps best assessed in the results of any service
re-design or new initiatives that result from this activity, where
we can see increased service take-up especially from users who
were under-represented.
Question 4: What constitutes best practice
in responding to complaints about public services?
4.1 The Local Government Ombudsmen's Guidance
Note Running a complaints system sets out our views on what is
best practice in how local authorities respond to complaints about
their service.
4.2 As well as setting out the essential
qualities of a good complaints system, the Guidance Note gives
guidance on:
— The number of stages in a council
complaints system, bearing in mind the need for reasonable speed
and handling complaints.
— Time targets, because complaints
need be considered and decided as quickly as possible.
— How complaints should be made, including
the importance of keeping record at all stages.
— Responsibility for the system, because
complaint systems do not run themselves.
— The involvement of councillors and
leading officers in the system through some form or process of
reporting to appropriate body.
— Training for councils and staff in
how the system works.
— How complaints should be investigated.
— Putting things right if things have
gone wrong (the local government ombudsmen had published a separate
guidance note setting out guidelines we use in deciding what remedies
to provide).
— What happens if the complaint is
not upheld.
— Publicity for the complaints system,
because people will not use the complaints system if they do not
know it exists.
— Judging whether the complaints system
works or not, including undertaking customer satisfaction studies
at regular intervals and monitoring a sample of complaints from
every department.
We apply these principles to our own complaints
system for any concerns raised by users of our services.
Question 5: Is information about complaining
easy to find and accessible?
5.1 The surveys we conducted to establish
awareness of us amongst the general public and their advisers
suggest that information about complaining could be made more
accessible/easier to find. Awareness of us was particularly low
amongst "hard to reach" groups such as young people,
disabled people and black and minority ethnic groups, hence the
series of initiatives we are undertaking to improve awareness
we describe at paragraph 3.4 above.
5.2 Research also shows us, however, that
providing clear/accessible information is not the end of the story:
complainants also value and expect the opportunity to discuss
the complaint with a knowledgeable person who is able to give
them accurate and detailed information about their particular
case. They also need to be satisfied that the body to which they
are complaining is able to deliver an appropriate remedy in a
customer focussed way.
February 2007
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