Annual Report 2007-08 - the Parliamentary and Health Service ...

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Individual and public benefitOur Parliamentary work during 2007-08clearly illustrated the dual aspect ofthe Ombudsman’s role in achievingremedy in individual cases, while alsoproviding wider public benefit. Thiswider benefit stems from the effectiveuse of our evidence base and ourexpertise in providing a high qualitycomplaint handling service, togetherwith an acknowledged reputation forindependence and impartiality. Thisenables us to provide expertise in goodadministration and good complainthandling, drive improvements in publicservice delivery and inform public policy,demonstrating that the Ombudsman notonly provides a retrospective remedy forinjustice resulting from maladministration,but also seeks to secure prospectiveimprovements in the wider public interest.This approach was evident in the workwe undertook in relation to the threebodies that attracted the mostcomplaints in the year:• In relation to Her Majesty’s Revenue& Customs, including the Adjudicator’sOffice, we reported on 54 tax creditinvestigations in the year and alsopublished our second special reporton the subject, Tax Credits: Gettingit wrong?, making recommendationsfor systemic change, all of which wereaccepted.• In relation to the Department forWork and Pensions and its agencieswe reported on 98 cases relating to118 complaints. We also welcomedthe extension of the remit of DWP’sIndependent Case Examiner to includeall of DWP’s customer-facing agencies,something the Ombudsman hadrecommended as far back as 2003.• In relation to the Border andImmigration Agency we reported on52 investigations in the year and, in aseries of liaison meetings with theChief Executive of the Agency, madestrong representations about the needfor a more robust and effective systemfor handling complaints.More detail is given later about the workwe undertook with these three majorbodies during the year.A Framework of PrinciplesAfter wide consultation, in October 2007we published our Principles for Remedy,which offer complementary guidance toour Principles of Good Administration,published in March 2007. The Principlesfor Remedy follow the same six Principlesas our Principles of Good Administration:• Getting it right• Being customer focused• Being open and accountable• Acting fairly and proportionately• Putting things right• Seeking continuous improvement.Principles for Remedy gives our viewof the Principles that should guide publicbodies in providing remedies for injusticeresulting from their maladministration.We want public bodies to be fair and takeresponsibility, acknowledge failures andapologise for them, make amends and usethe opportunity to improve their services.During 2007-08 we developed the thirdin our series of Principles, which we havebeen consulting on in recent months andwill publish in autumn 2008. OurPrinciples of Good Complaint Handlingare based on the same six core Principlesas our Principles of Good Administrationand Principles for Remedy. With them weaim to ensure that public bodiesunderstand how we expect complaintsto be handled, and that complainantsunderstand how we will consider theircases. As with the existing Principles, wehope that they will prove useful to bothcomplaint handlers and complainants.Poor complaint handling by publicbodies was a recurrent theme across ourParliamentary investigations in 2007-08,and one we refer to frequently in thepages that follow. Often, the failureto provide an adequate remedy is anelement of poor complaint handling, andis a significant factor in the complainant’sdecision to refer the complaint to us forinvestigation, as in the following example.Poor complaint handlingOur investigation into the case ofMr W, a worker in the security industry,upheld his complaint that the SecurityIndustry Authority had not properlyhandled his complaint about a lostapplication and had failed to explainits procedure to him adequately.As a result of our investigation, theSecurity Industry Authority not onlyagreed to put things right for Mr W,but also accepted our recommendationthat it review its complaints processto prevent a recurrence of the problemsMr W had experienced.14
Parliamentray and health service ombudsman annuall report 2007/082Case StudyComplaints processwas not fully explainedIn July 2006 Mr W sent the Security Industry Authority (theAuthority) an application form for a door supervisor’s licence.The Authority wrote back to Mr W saying that his form wasincomplete; it enclosed not his identification documents, butthe application form of a third party, Mr A. Mr W told theAuthority that it had sent him Mr A’s application form and heasked where his own form was. The Authority said human errorhad probably led to Mr W’s application being separated fromhis documents and replaced with Mr A’s application. Mr W wasinvited to write in to complain.After several attempts, in November the Authority finallymanaged to contact Mr A, who confirmed that he had receivedsomeone else’s application form. He said he would return it tothe Authority. Having not received the application form back,the Authority contacted Mr A again asking him to return it as soonas possible. Following a further exchange of correspondence withMr W, in February 2007 the Authority refunded his £190application fee as a goodwill gesture. Mr W acknowledged thegesture but said he could not accept that the Authority tookall complaints seriously; that he had not been made aware of itscomplaints policy or procedure and had not been kept informedof progress. He said that the Authority had still not addressed allof his concerns.In some cases, the errors that ledto a complaint are compoundedat the complaint handling stageby well-intentioned but ultimatelycounter-productive efforts toresolve problems informally. In aninvestigation involving the Departmentfor Communities and Local Governmentwe found that a 14-month delayresulted in this way when theDepartment attempted to negotiatea voluntary agreement to settle thematter, before eventually startingformal modification procedures.We upheld Mr W’s complaint in full. We found that the Authorityhad probably sent his application form containing personal detailsto a third party. It is the seriousness of this error, at a time whencrime related to identity theft is much reported in the media, andin the knowledge that such crime can have a wide-ranging effecton victims, that led us to find the Authority’s actionsmaladministrative. However, we saw nothing to suggest that themistake was a result of systemic problems. The Authority did notanswer Mr W’s concerns about its complaints process and shouldhave done more to explain it to him.The Authority agreed to apologise to Mr W for not fully explainingits complaints process to him, and to review the complaintsprocess, with particular attention to the need to make informationabout it publicly available.15
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