Referrals from other Ombudsman services
Dear Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Ombudsman,
The Pensions Ombudsman Service has recently confirmed that it will not accept complaints that are referred to it by other Ombudsman services, instead requiring complainants to complete its own complaints form on the basis that the referred complaint is "not valid". It has failed to explain what it means by "not valid", but this refusal is apparently based on its belief that it will otherwise be in breach of data protection legislation.
Clearly, this policy leads directly to additional unnecessary form-filling on the part of the complainant and displays an unacceptable and unhelpful attitude towards the general public as the primary users of its services.
My query to you is "Do you accept complaints referred to you by other Ombudsman services or do you, like the Pensions Ombudsman Service, refuse such referrals and require complainants to complete your own complaints forms even when the referred complaint contains all necessary information for the complaint to be investigated?"
Dear Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Ombudsman,
The response to my Freedom of Information request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, you should have responded by now. If you no longer have a record of my request, it can be found at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r....
Your failure to respond within the period permitted by law is a matter of public record.
Yours faithfully,
R M Crorie
Dear Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Ombudsman,
As all other Ombudsman services to which similar requests were sent have now responded, and your service has not responded to, nor acknowledged, this request despite successful delivery to your e-mail account on 27 August being confirmed, there is little point in proceeding with it.
I can only assume that your service is unavailable sine die.
Yours faithfully,
R M Crorie
Good morning Mr Crorie, thank you for your email below. Our Legal Team have asked me to let you know your request was responded to on 23 September. They will be in touch with you later today.
Kind regards
Dawn
Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman's Office
Progressive House | 33 Wellington Place | Belfast | BT1 6HN
Email: [NIJAO request email]
Telephone: 0800 343424
From: NIPSO Legal Services
Sent: 26 October 2022 10:14
To: 'request-891798-fe82e33e@whatdo they know.com'
<request-891798-fe82e33e@whatdo they know.com>
Subject: request for information
Dear R M Crorie
I refer to your email of today’s date notifying us that you have not
received a response to your request for information.
Please note that we acknowledged your request on 1 September 2022 and
responded to your request on 23 September 2022. I attach copies of these
letters for your attention. These letters were sent to the email address
that you wrote to us from which is a different email than the one you are
currently using. I can only assume that there must be a problem retrieving
the emails from your original email address.
If required I can provide you with the email confirmation for each letter.
I hope that this answers your request.
If we can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours faithfully,
Noreen Hanif
Paralegal
Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman's Office
Progressive House | 33 Wellington Place | Belfast | BT1 6HN
+ Email: [1][email address]
' Telephone: 0800 343424
Please note, we are currently taking steps to manage the unprecedented
circumstances we are all experiencing in relation to the Coronavirus
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sector service providers, this is impacting on our ability to provide our
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We are continuing to provide our services but please be aware that our
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staff, our response times will be affected.
References
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R M Crorie left an annotation ()
It would appear that the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Ombudsman service has ceased to function as a consequence of the decision by the DUP to withdraw from the NI Assembly.
As the Assembly is no longer functioning, it seems that none of the legal framework is functioning either, and one hopes that this situation can be resolved by a General Election at an early opportunity.