The greenshoots of a human rights ombudsprudence in the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO)

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The article’s preference is to use the gender-neutral ombud(s) rather than masculine ombudsman/men. See: Varda Bondy and Margaret Doyle, ‘What’s in a name? A discussion paper on ombud terminology’ in Marc Hertogh and Richard Kirkham (eds), The Research Handbook on the Ombudsman (Edward Elgar 2018).

2. Initial searches indicate that the PHSO tends to use legal human rights instruments significantly less than the LGSCO. On 28 December 2023, a search for ‘Human Rights Act’ in the PHSO’s database identified only two references; a search for ‘Equality Act’ was a little more popular at five references; and a search for ‘European Convention on Human Rights’ returned zero references. Compared with the 253 ‘Human Rights Act’ references; 693 ‘Equality Act’ references; and 62 ‘European Convention on Human Rights’ references in the available LGSCO data, I determined that I would not have sufficient data to draw even tentative conclusions for the PHSO. This data gap highlights an urgent need for the PHSO the prioritise the publication of summaries of its decided complaints before 2021.

3. See for example the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales’s website here: https://www.ombudsman.wales/complaints-standards-authority/; the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman’s website here https://www.spso.org.uk/complaints-standards-authority; and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s website here https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/gcs

4. https://www.lgo.org.uk/Decisions/SearchResults?fd=0001-01-01&td=2023-12-18&q=%22equal%20access%3A%20getting%22&dc=c%2Bnu%2Bu%2B&sortOrder=descending

5. https://www.lgo.org.uk/Decisions/SearchResults?fd=0001-01-01&td=2023-12-18&q=%22equal%20justice%22&dc=c%2Bnu%2Bu%2B&sortOrder=descending

6. All percentages have been rounded up to the nearest number.

7. Percentages have been rounded up to the nearest number. The complaint upholding rate for detailed investigations is shown here because this is the data normally published in LGSCO annual reports for all complaints. It, therefore, gave a direct point of comparison between the general upholding rate and the human rights specific upholding rate. Detailed investigations are when complaints have passed an initial filtering stage whereby the LGSCO carries out initial inquiries and seeks to resolve the dispute without the need for a full investigation.

8. https://www.lgo.org.uk/Decisions/SearchResults?fd=0001-01-01&td=2023-12-17&q=%22advance%20equality%20of%20opportunity%20for%20all%22&dc=c%2Bnu%2Bu%2B&sortOrder=descending