About Us

Our powers come from the Local Government Act 1974.

We look at individual complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing local public services. We are a free service. We investigate complaints in a fair and independent way - we do not take sides.

To find out more about us; our boards, structures, staff, aims and performance – click here

Whose actions can we investigate?

We investigate the actions taken by or taken on behalf of a council or authority. An authority may be a drainage board, fire authority, care home or provider, combined authority, school admission appeal panel, Transport for London, an urban development corporation, some multi-agency bodies, and many other organisations.

This means that, where a council or authority has outsourced a service, while it no longer provides that service directly, it remains responsible for it and for the actions of the organisation providing that service. So, if someone complains about a body or organisation acting on behalf of a council or authority, you should still signpost that complaint to the Ombudsman as usual.