Neil Hobbs, Assistant Ombudsman (York office) supplying misleading information to the press
Our comments in blue
SIR – Your correspondent, Jane
Micklethwaite, in your letters page of January 28 (Investigators must
be impartial) reported some misleading statements about the Local
Government Ombudsman service.
We are concerned that this might
discourage readers from complaining to us when they have justified
complaints about their council that the Ombudsman could investigate and
get them some remedy for injustice they may have suffered. Notice the could get them some
remedy. That's like a snake oil salesman saying 'my potion may give you
some relief'. Too many vague words like could and some give the game
away.
The Local Government Ombudsmen are wholly independent (of national and local government) Oh no they are not! now who's misleading people
Mr Hobbs. and are scrupulous in giving fair and unbiased treatment to both sides of complaints. Oh no they are not! now who's misleading people
Mr Hobbs. They do not take sides. Oh yes they do! now who's misleading people
Mr Hobbs.
Often
complainants disagree strongly with a decision made by their council,
and they want an Ombudsman to overturn it. They do not have the power
to do this and it is not their job. Their job is to investigate,
impartially and independently, to see if there has been fault in the
way the council took that decision and if it has caused injustice to
the complainant. No Mr Hobs your job is to
investigate complaints that have caused injustice through
maladministration. Stop the silly word games and stop calling
maladministration 'some fault' so you don't have to report the truth!
The
Ombudsman’s investigators come from a wide variety of backgrounds,
including advice agencies, voluntary sector organisations, the private
sector, the NHS and central government, as well as local government.
Some two thirds, that's the majority to us, come from local authorities and most
of the others come from central government. The Ombudsmen place independence and integrity at the very forefront of our staff training and quality control.
They are about as independent as a puppet. Our existence depends on maintaining the confidence of complainants and those who advise them But
they don't have the confidence of complainants and they are losing the
confidence of the people who advice them The truth is out and it's
hurting them, hence this load of bullshit from Hobbs.,
as well as local government, that we will conduct an impartial and
thorough investigation of the facts, and arrive at a fair and unbiased
conclusion. The LGO very rarely conduct a
thorough investigation. What they actually do is seek to close it down,
one way or another, to increase their bonuses. The quicker they locally
settle the matter the more money investigators earn.
Your
correspondent also reported that “findings of maladministration are
upheld in only two per cent of cases.” This is very misleading I have to agree with him because with his office it's only 0.1 percent of all cases. 20 times worse that the figure quoted. , as it refers only to the number of public reports issued by the Ombudsman. Most cases are not decided this way.
In the overwhelming majority of cases where fault is found Don't you mean maladministration Mr Hobbs?, the Ombudsman decides the case by letter, proposing that the council takes some Back to words like some!
action to provide the complainant with redress for the injustice. This
could typically include payment of financial compensation A miserable few quid so they can close a complaint down. , some action taken and improvements to council procedures. The old lessons have been learnt and it wont happen again, but always does rubbish. If the council agrees with the proposal, we call this a ‘local settlement’, and this happens in more than a quarter of cases.
Further
misleading information is available on our website www.lgo.org.uk and the Ombudsmen also have an advice service on 0845 6... for people who wish to allow us to bury a complain about their council.
Neil HOBBS
Assistant Ombudsman
If you can provide evidence against the Local Government Ombudsman please send it to Ombudsmanwatchers.org.uk and they will add it to these evidence archives.