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Justice for Carly Wright is the latest petition involving Local Government Ombudsmen.

This one highlights their impotence.  'We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make all Local Government Ombudsmen’s recommendations legally enforceable. An ever growing number of Local Authorities are now refusing to follow the recommendations of the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO). This is not an unexpected development because Local Authorities can save a substantial amount of money through maladministration which can help keep local taxation down and local taxpayers happy. Using my case as an example, Trafford Council recently saved £100,000 through maladministration. The LGO found them guilty and recommended they pay my family the £100,000 they had saved through their actions. The Council refused to comply. Unfortunately, local taxpayers are reluctant to hold Trafford to account because of the direct correlation between the payment of compensation to us and an increase in their local taxes. This situation should not be allowed to continue. A Public Authority should not be able to profit from maladministration. They should administer correctly and effectively in the first place but when they fail to do so, and families like us suffer as a consequence, they should be forced to pay the compensation recommended by the LGO.'

Please click here to sign the petition and help Carly's family get the justice they deserve. Justice that the impotent Local Government Ombudsman can't deliver!

A recent Freedom of Information request proves this is not a new phenomenon: The case where the complainant had to wait the longest time for a remedy, following the issue of an Ombudsman’s report finding maladministration that caused injustice to the complainant, was a complaint against Mid Suffolk DC, concerning a planning application for an airfield. The complaint was received on 12 April 1990, the initial report was published in December 1992 and the case was finally closed in October 1998, following the publication of two further reports. The Council never provided the remedy recommended by the Ombudsman. The Council published a statement in the press – the final action the Ombudsman can require of the Council in this situation – in October 1998. A large part of the delay was due to the Council not agreeing to the level of compensation the Ombudsman had recommended. This is explained in the statement published in the East Anglian Daily Times on 12 October 1998.

All three Local Government Ombudsmen are ex council, all deputy ombudsmen are ex council, 61% of all assistant ombudsmen are ex council and 68% of all investigators are ex council. Local Government Ombudsmen find and report maladministration in less than 1% of all complaints submitted to them. [The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman finds and reports maladministration in 68% of all complaints submitted to her]. The evidence could not be clearer Local Government Ombudsmen bury maladministration for their friends and ex colleagues in local councils.

What the above petition and freedom of information request prove is that even if you are one of the lucky 1% of complainants your problems are far from over because councils can, and often do, ignore Local Government Ombudsmen. Is the above not evidence enough that Local Government Ombudsmen are impotent,  biased and up to now unaccountable? This travesty must be stopped and if Local Government Ombudsmen won't do anything about it then it's about time government stepped in and ended this local government cabal.

Coming soon: Another case study that will provide further compelling evidence that local government ombudsmen use their position to help their friends and ex colleagues in local councils evade the consequences of maladministration.  However, what makes this case study unique and thus potentially more damning is that it's from a representative of the 1% of complainants who, in 1998, managed to secure a reported finding of maladministration.  For what this case study will illustrate is a less well know trick of local government ombudsmen, 'find the council guilty of a minor offence whilst creatively manipulating the evidence, the facts and the truth to bury more serious acts of maladministration'.

Unfortunately for the ombudsman concerned this complainant agreed to help us expose this sordid practice over 4 years ago by agreeing to repeat the exercise whilst gathering further evidence. They are now in the unique position of  having secured a second finding of maladministration, yet again for a minor offence, whilst once again the ombudsman has creatively manipulated the evidence, the facts and the truth to bury more serious acts of maladministration. It's not as if the complainant entrapped the ombudsman because they clearly gave them every opportunity to do the right thing on a number of occasions. Examples of that can be found here  here and here.

You can read some of the case studies we already feature at the bottom of the page.

What DoThey Know?  A new website that allows you to submit Freedom of Information requests to any Public Authority in the UK including the Local Government Ombudsmen the Parliamentary Ombudsman and your own Council. Thanks to a supporter for bringing this new website to our attention. Visit our new Freedom of Information Portal for a list of submitted requests.

Surveys: Jerry White voted worst Local Government Ombudsman in our recent survey.  New survey now added In your opinion which option best describes Local Government Ombudsmen?

Scottish Public Service Ombudsman resigns: Professor Alice Brown, Scottish Public Service Ombudsman is standing down on the 31st March 2009. Her second term of office would have ended on 30th September 2011 so she is standing down two and a half years early.

Law Commission Consultation, Administrative Redress: Public Bodies and the Citizen: On 3 July 2008, the Law Commission published a consultation paper regarding a review of the law in relation to redress from public bodies for substandard administrative action. Rather than improve the current Public Service and Local Government Ombudsmen, to ensure citizens will use them for administrative redress, they plan to remove many of the legal alternatives that currently exist thus forcing citizens to use discredited Public Service and Local Government Ombudsmen.

psow.co.uk will be sending a response but please consider submitting an individual response. We believe the only way to make Public Service and Local Government Ombudsmen an acceptable mechanism for administrative redress is to improve the abysmal service they currently provide and make their recommendations enforceable and their findings open to appeal. Destroying the alternatives is just a cynical attempt at manipulating a citizen's choice.

A short summary is available here, a press summary is available here, Whilst the main consultation document is available here, Please visit the Law Commission website here for more information.

This is your chance to let the Law Commission know your views before the they implement their plans. The deadline for responses is the 7th November 2008.

Another new petition that involves Ombudsmen. Visit our UK Ombudsman petition portal for more petitions. We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to begin to build full accountability and the need for enforceable outcomes, into Tribunals, Ombudsmen, Information Commissioner, Healthcare Commission, and all complaints systems - no matter how badly they are currently run - under local government and national government control.

The Local Government Ombudsman service is a joke; our regional Ombudsman once boasted to an audience of County Councillors that he had spent fifteen years 'defending Local Government' and he was proud of the fact that he had upheld only 3% of the complaints that came his way. The fact is, there is little or no accountability; there is no-one of whom it can be said, 'the buck stops here'. The full story here.

Well after taking some advice today I was told you can get in touch with the Government Ombudsman which will deal with matters concerning your local council if you don't feel they have been dealt with in a manner you feel has rectified the problem you may be having

So off I went with phone number in hand and gave them a bell only to be asked do I have a level 3 ! well being a normal working class person I didn't have a clue what they were on about but luckily they explained the procedure which needed to be undertaken to get a level 3 which isn't popping down the local arcade and placing 10p into Pac-man 'which is a shame' as it would be far easier .

Well guess what I ended back having to phone Taberner House which has a complainants department which you have to get a info pack which sets out the procedure which needs to be undertaken plus a few forms which need to be filled 'Yes Level 1'

So after the last few years which has seen my mother and neighbours sending countless letters and emails to the council and are local Members of Parliament it seems it's like going back to square one

So could anyone throw me a float as it looks like the Government Ombudsman has just topped up the treacle filled swimming pool i'm swimming in dealing with my local council. The full story here.

  Featured Case Studies

Keith Edmunds A case history demonstrating how the corrupt Local Government Ombudsman system covers up for Local Authority Councils when they have committed maladministration and, how far they are prepared to go to perpetrate these cover ups - in my case - aiding and abetting perjury, which is of course a criminal offence.

Peter Moulder My 24-year fight for justice against Dover District Council, who unlawfully demolished my home.  A factual account of my dispute with the Council, which started in 1984 and still continues today, almost a quarter of a century later.