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'What percentage of complaints do Local Government Ombudsmen consider personally'.
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Extracts from Investigation handbook
Decisions
Who writes
Reports need the signature of the Ombudsman or (in exceptional circumstances the Deputy).
Conveying a provisional view or final view by letter will normally be the investigator's responsibility. Letters should not, however, be signed by the investigator in any of the following circumstances:
the decision is not patently consistent with the Commission's technical guidance documents;
the matter is likely to cause public controversy or a lot of media interest;
the matter concerns members' interests;
there is any doubt whether to discontinue or there is some exceptional feature;
where there is significant maladministration and/or service failure*, but no or insufficient injustice; or
in any other cases as required by the Ombudsman:
in Coventry, where an MP or member of the House of Lords has been involved in making the complaint to the Ombudsman - either these letters are signed by the LGO, or he will sign a covering letter; or
in Coventry, where the investigation involves significant fieldwork (fieldwork is defined as one or more formal council interviews)
in Coventry, where the value of the settlement exceeds £5,000 in cash or monetary equivalent... etc.
* service failure applies to complaints received on or after 1 April 2008.
In these circumstances, the investigator should consult the AO with a view to preparing a decision letter for signature by the Ombudsman.
Who can decide a settlement proposal?
Most settlements can be determined by investigators.
In any explorations of a possible settlement you must not commit the Ombudsman to a particular course of action.
You must seek the advice of your AO if considering proposing a settlement:
where a compensation payment is or may be over £5,000*
in any very unusual case or in a case where the proposal is likely to be particularly contentious
* In Coventry, these complaints have to be decided by the Ombudsman.
REPORTS
Who decides to issue a report?
The Ombudsman (or Deputy) will decide whether to complete the investigation and so issue a report. However, the decision to prepare a draft of a possible report will usually be taken by the AO either before significant investigation is done (such as inspecting files or doing interviews) or when the investigator concludes that there is un-remedied injustice arising from maladministration and a local settlement is either inappropriate or unobtainable. The AO may wish to ask the Ombudsman to agree that s/he is likely to want to complete an investigation and report at this point to prevent any unnecessary work.
