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The Local Government Ombudsmen is a United Kingdom governmental institution, established in 1974, which has the power to investigate complaints about councils (and certain other bodies) in England. Council services which can be investigated include housing, planning, education, social services, council tax, housing benefit and highways. There are three Local Government Ombudsmen and each deals with complaints from different parts of the country. The Ombudsmen can investigate in response to allegations of maladministration causing injustice to the person who has complained.

The LGO provides dispute resolution services for free, and asserts itself as independent and impartial.

Every year the LGO prepares a "letter" which is sent to each council. It is essentially a summary of all the complaints it has received and investigated. If any complaints are of a serious nature then the LGO will prepare a report.

The 2008 letter makes interesting reading and can be downloaded from HERE.

INTERESTING NOTE

An interesting point in the "letter" is:

"Complaints about transport and highways in Westminster increased by almost 30%, more than three
times the average rise for all authorities. All but seven of the complaints were about the Council’s
parking services. I understand that the Council’s own complaints systems have also recorded an
increase in complaints about parking."

We can't agree more - parking is one of WCC's darkest departments as most of the news articles on this site testify. The 2009 and 2010 "letters" will make interesting reading.

Note: If you you wish to complain to the Ombudsmen then use the online form HERE