What we publish
How we make information available
Our Guide to Information sets out what is available through our Publication Scheme.
Most of the information listed below is available on this website and can be found by following the link given. If it is not available on the website, you can get a copy of it by emailing foi.officer@lgo.org.uk. We will aim to send you the information within five working days.
If you cannot find the information you are looking for in any of the categories below, you can make a request under the Freedom of Information Act by emailing foi.officer@lgo.org.uk.
See How to access information for more information.
Guide to Information
Here we list the information we publish in seven classes of information.
Information about senior executives and management board members, roles and responsibilities, organisation charts, legislation under which the Ombudsman operates, other organisations we work with and our contact details.
- Who we are - Commissioner and senior staff profiles
- Who we are - Our boards
- Who we are - Our structure and staff (includes organisation charts)
- Our aims - our mission and objectives (includes the Corporate Strategy)
- Our aims - business plans
- Our legal framework
- Others we work with - covering links with Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Housing Ombudsman and Care Quality Commission
- Chair's meetings - available in published meeting papers; see note on Commission page
- Contact us
Information on making a complaint to the LGSCO – our main business – also the decisions we make on complaints, and other services, such as training provided to bodies we investigate.
- Make a complaint
- Our decisions on complaints
- Adult social care
- Advisers and advocates
- Reports (including Annual reports and accounts, Focus reports, Guidance notes)
- Newsletters - available to subscribe to
- Leaflets
- Councils' performance (including annual review letters we send to councils)
- Training courses for bodies we investigate
- Media releases
Our strategies and plans, how we measure our performance and how we are doing.
- Three Year Plan - available as a download from Our aims - our mission and objectives
- Annual business plans
- Annual Report and Accounts
- Triennial Review of the Local Government Act 1974 - available as a download from Our legal framework
- Internal performance indicator reports are included in papers considered at Commission meetings, see Our boards - Commission
- Our performance - research and surveys
- Our performance - quality and service standards
- Our performance - external reviewer
- Our performance - independent external evaluation
- Minutes of the Advisory Forum meetings
Information on how the organisation is run, and manuals used by staff who made decisions on the complaints we receive, and consultations.
- Commission meetings - there are separate pages for each year's meetings
- Audit and risk assurance committee meetings - there are separate pages for each year's meetings
- Remuneration and Appointments Committee
- Public consultations
- Policies and procedures on investigating complaints - see Staff guidance
Financial information relating to projected and actual income and expenditure, including information on tendering.
- Framework document - available as a download, see Our boards - Commission
- Financial regulations - see Our performance - spending
- Financial instructions - see Our performance - spending
- Annual Accounts
- Monthly Management Accounts, including the budget for the year, are included in Commission meeting papers - see Our boards - Commission
- Payments to suppliers - all transactions over £250 produced on a monthly basis
- Business expenses - details of senior executives' expenses that can be incurred or claimed
- Grading structure - see Our structure and staff for a download version of Staff pay scales
Our policies and procedures covering our complaint casework, employment and recruitment, service delivery and information management.
- See 'How we make decisions' (above) for our policies and procedures on complaint casework.
- Challenging our decisions
- Complaints about our service
- Recruitment policies
- Human Resources policies (these are not published on our website but are available on request)
- Equality and diversity policy
- Information management policies - covering Information security policy, Email policy, Retention of casework material, and how we deal with Information requests
- Health and safety policy
- How to access information from the LGSCO
- Charging regimes: training courses
- Charging regimes: requests for information
- Code of Conduct of Commission members - available as a download from Our boards - Commission
- Commissioners' register of interests - available as a download from Our boards - Commission
- Register of gifts and hospitality - available as a download from Our structure and staff
Formats and fees
Most items listed above are on our website and can be downloaded free of charge. Some items are in .pdf format. To read .pdf documents you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
All our publications are available as downloads on this website. We do not provide printed publications.
We can provide information in different formats for people who need them to access our service - see How to complain and Leaflets for further information.