Advice and guidance

Part of our role is to provide advice and guidance to councils and authorities on good administrative practice and to help them improve their handling of complaints. In addition to publishing our annual report and information on councils’ and authorities’ performance, we also publish focus reports, provide training in effective complaint handling, and collaborate with other organisations to publish joint reports on issues.

Focus reports and good practice guides

In Focus reports and good practice guides we highlight particular subjects or systemic issues arising from our casework. They draw on the lessons learnt from complaints and include recommendations on good practice. This includes information for members to use as part of their role in scrutinising the operation of a council or authority.

We also publish guidance notes for councils and authorities about good administrative practice and handling complaints.

Training for councils, authorities, care providers and councillors

We offer an online complaint handling training course to local authorities and care providers. This provides guidance on investigating complaints thoroughly, making robust decisions, and communicating those decisions effectively. Our trainers are experienced complaint-handlers and offer insight throughout the day on applying our principles of good practice in investigating complaints. The course is fully interactive and gives participants an opportunity to practise the skills needed for investigating complaints thoroughly and effectively.

In partnership with the Local Government Association, we have also produced an eLearning course and workbook aimed at helping councillors to handle complaints for service improvement. The workbook can be found on the LGA's website. Details of how to access the eLearning course are available in our online Learning Resource Centre.

Further details of our complaint handling courses can be found on the training pages of our website or contact training@lgo.org.uk.

Managing unreasonable complainant actions

The Ombudsman faces the same problems as many councils and authorities with some people whose actions place unreasonable demands on staff and resources. We have also produced a guide for councils and authorities and have a policy on handling unreasonable actions.

Keeping authorities up to date with developments at the Ombudsman’s office

Our External Training and Relationship Lead produces a newsletter called Ombudsman Link which is emailed to link officers (and to other officers who request it) to inform them of any developments at the Ombudsman’s office. You can subscribe here.

Getting advice from the Ombudsman

Where a council or authority is looking for advice on a complaint or general good practice   they should contact the External Training and Relationship Lead. No personal details of the complainant or others should be disclosed when requesting advice.

The advice given by the Ombudsman does not bind our decision making or constitute a formal decision by the Ombudsman.  Any views or opinions expressed are given in good faith and to the best of our ability without prejudice to the formal consideration of any complaint submitted to us.

This advice is confidential and is provided to help organisations improve complaint handling practices and to support the early resolution to complaints. The advice must not be shared with complainants, third parties or in any public meetings or forums without our consent.

If you have a query about a specific investigation, you should contact the investigator carrying out that investigation. The contact details of the relevant investigator will be listed in our correspondence about the complaint.