Letter to the Chair of the Committee from Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman

CLG Committee Inquiry on the work of the Local Government Ombudsman

In previous submissions to the Committee we have shared information on how the organisation has developed over the last 12 months and I look forward to exploring those issues in December. Given the importance of leadership to the future success of LGO, I am taking this opportunity to give my own reflections as Chair of the Commission for Local Administration and, since Anne Seex’s absence from November of last year, the sole Local Government Ombudsman.

Operational performance

The new caseworking arrangements introduced in April this year as a result of the transformation plan have been successful in helping us to deliver a swifter service to the public. Our previous submission contained detailed information about our performance which showed that since the introduction of the new approach we have exceeded our time targets each month. Our performance also meets or exceeds the speed of decision making of other public sector ombudsmen. However, the arrangements are still new and we will closely monitor them to ensure we sustain those levels of performance.

The public not only want to receive a decision within a short timescale but also want to know that the decisions we make are accurate and fair. Our Annual Report for 2012-13 showed that both complaints about our service and requests for reviews of our decisions have decreased by 38% and 19% respectively.

In particular, I am pleased that we have a much better picture to report on cases which have taken over 52 weeks to conclude. A number of these are joint investigations with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). We recognise that we need to do better and have been working with PHSO to more closely harmonise our approach so that investigations can proceed more smoothly and swiftly. We will shortly be publishing a new protocol that clarifies our approach.

Most of the joint investigations are complaints about health and social care and we will continue to work with PHSO to make the current statutory arrangements work as well as possible. However, as health services become more closely integrated with social care at the local government level, Parliament may need to consider whether a new legislative approach is needed to deliver a more joined up ombudsman landscape across English public services, as is currently the case in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Public confidence in the Ombudsman

Public confidence in LGO is primarily driven by the quality of the service we provide. The External Evaluation of LGO concluded that our decision making procedures meet the Ombudsman Association’s principles for fairness, openness and transparency and that our new performance management and quality framework is appropriately robust and effective. The report of the External Evaluation, along with the data we have previously submitted on our performance, show that the public can have confidence in LGO. We have to continue to earn that confidence by sustaining consistently high standards. Our newly introduced quality standards framework is designed to provide that assurance.

It was clear from submissions to the Committee’s previous inquiry that public confidence is also affected by perceptions of the independence and impartiality of our investigations. The publication of all of our decisions, the first public sector ombudsman to do so, will help the public to better understand the reasons for our decisions and the evidence on which they are based. In response to recommendations made by the External Evaluation, our policy and guidance on avoiding conflicts of interest are published on our website and we also now publish details of the number of staff who have previously worked for a local authority.

We now need to measure how successful we have been in increasing confidence and identify areas where we have further work to do. Our business plan identifies two clear actions that will help us to measure this; customer satisfaction research and the establishment of an advisory forum. As set out in our previous submission, both of these are progressing well and by the end of the business year we will have clear data to establish how confident service users are in our work. We will share those results with the Committee and on our website once they are available.

Relationship with staff

The 2012 staff survey highlighted a number of issues for the leadership and management of the LGO to address.  In support of the changes we have made I have clarified my role as Ombudsman to ensure clear leadership on casework and promote an open and accountable culture. I am accountable for my performance against objectives through a 360 degree appraisal process led by the independent chair of our remuneration committee

Greater staff involvement has also been encouraged and earlier this year we established a Casework Policy Forum which I chair, to provide a vehicle through which decisions about our policy on casework related issues are determined. My role in approving every report that we publish also ensures that I have a clear view of the significant issues arising in our casework and give clear direction to investigators. 

Improving feedback channels and communication with our staff has also been central to a more open and accountable culture. Staff have told us that they most value face to face communication from their direct line managers. Earlier this year we introduced a new method of feeding back from our Leadership Group meetings that better meets those communications preferences of staff. A ‘Talking Points’ briefing note is produced immediately following the Leadership Group which is then discussed in all team meetings the following week. This approach ensures that everyone receives contemporaneous information face to face with an opportunity to discuss and feedback to their manager.

We have successfully managed the most significant organisational change in LGO’s forty year history.  Undoubtedly, this has been a very unsettling time for many people in the organisation. We recognise that it is our capable and committed workforce that will enable LGO to continue to deliver an effective service and we will continue to support them as the organisation develops.

The future

Through stronger leadership and a dedicated workforce we have transformed the LGO into a more effective, cost efficient and responsive ombudsman scheme. The changes we have made place us in a strong position to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing public services landscape.

We must now ensure that the organisation is resilient in order to meet future challenges. We have had some difficulty recruiting to posts required in the transformation plan and must ensure we have sufficient investigative capacity to meet future business needs. This will be a key consideration in the rationalisation of future office accommodation. We also need to be able to maximise public awareness of our service especially in relation to social care.

Our business plan for 2014-15 will focus on

• the public: rolling out and monitoring our new quality standards so that we continue to provide a high quality service;
• public services: better sharing the lessons from our casework with bodies in our jurisdiction to help assure local accountability and support sector-led improvements in the services delivered to the public;
• our staff: to continue the culture change within LGO so that we are demonstrably an organisation with strong leadership and accountability where staff feel valued and are able to deliver their full potential.

The next business year is also likely to see a wider debate about the role that LGO and other public sector ombudsmen should play in the future. The inquiry into complaints by the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC), along with the review of the ombudsman landscape by Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Letwin MP, provides an opportunity to ensure that the experiences of local government complaints and the changing face of local service delivery informs the future direction of any reforms.

The complaints system for public services including route to independent redress from the ombudsman, needs to reflect increasingly locally delivered and accountable public services. The existing complaints system may no longer meet the needs of the citizen as a consumer of public services.

At LGO, our main purpose and focus will continue to be ensuring that our operating model delivers a quality service; that we maintain a sustainable workforce and that we remain an authoritative voice that engenders public trust and confidence.

1 November 2013