Public sector needs ombudsman for complaint handling
Institute of Customer Service
Jo Causon, CEO of the Institute of Customer Service, comments on proposed reform and modernisation of the public service ombudsman sector.
“My Government will introduce legislation creating a new Public Service Ombudsman to improve complaint handling throughout public sector.”
The public sector faces some difficult challenges including rising customer expectations, rising demand, fragmentation of services and economic austerity. A new combined Ombudsman is needed as our research shows that an aligned approach to the delivery of public services is something that customers require.
According to the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index, 17.9 percent of customers experience problems with local public services and 16.6 percent with national public services. Nearly a third of these suffer in silence and make no complaints. They say their inaction is down to a belief that complaining makes no difference and that it is ‘too much hassle’.
We have set out recommendations for what the new Ombudsman should focus on including defining what constitutes a complaint, providing clear and easy ways for customers to make a complaint using a channel of their choice, measuring and benchmarking complaints and undertaking root cause analysis to prevent problems reoccurring.
The solution is an integrated approach to complaints throughout the public sector which is why the Government should introduce the proposed Public Service Ombudsman Bill as soon as possible.
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