The role of the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) investigates complaints about all local authorities in England. We also investigate complaints about other public bodies such as combined authorities, national parks and fire and rescue authorities.

We are also the Ombudsman for private registered social care providers in England. This means that people who have commissioned their own care can raise a complaint with us if they are unhappy with the actions of their care provider.

Our powers are set out in the Local Government Act 1974. We consider complaints from members of the public who claim to have suffered an injustice as a result of fault by the organisation they are complaining about.

The law says that organisations should have an opportunity to consider and respond to complaints before they are referred to us, and we will generally not consider a complaint unless this has happened.

There are limits on what the Ombudsman can investigate. There are more details about this on our website.

We carry out joint investigations with other Ombudsmen. For example, a complaint about a council’s social services department and the NHS would be jointly investigated with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Complaints which cover the provision of social housing and homelessness services may be investigated jointly with the Housing Ombudsman.