What now for deprivations of liberty?
What will the effect of the postponement of the Liberty Protections Safeguards be on local authorities? Local Government Lawyer asked 50 adult social care lawyers for their views on the potential consequences.
SPOTLIGHT |
The system for dealing with complaints in relation to public services and providing redress is confusing for consumers and several areas – such as academies – have no formal route to independent redress, the National Audit Office has said.
In a report, Public service markets: Putting things right when they go wrong, the spending watchdog noted that consumers had to deal with many different organisations, and that they had a low awareness of which ones to turn to.
The report's findings included:
The NAO report, which can be viewed here, suggested that system-wide improvements were inhibited by poor central leadership. “Responsibility for different parts of the system sit with different parts of central and local government, each with different governance and accountability arrangements,” it said.
The watchdog also claimed that public service organisations did not make enough use of complaints to improve services and there were serious impediments to doing so.
“There is no standard approach to recording or reporting on complaints. Despite some examples of good practice, data sharing is irregular and informal,” the NAO found.
The watchdog called on the Cabinet Office, which oversees public service reform working in partnership with other government departments, to nominate an authority within government to manage reforms to the complaints and redress system.
The NAO also said there should be a review of the effectiveness of complaints-handling arrangements for private providers where they received public money.
Council executives and departmental boards should meanwhile examine their own complaints and complaint handling as a matter of course and ensure that complaints handling meets best practice.
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said: “At present, the complaints and redress system in the public sector cannot be regarded as good value for money.
“Effective consumer and redress systems allow providers to be held accountable, improve quality and identify failure and malpractice. Many users have problems with public services, and serious detriment can and does occur.”
Morse added: “If government took the power of redress to improve public services seriously, it would recognise that the present system is incoherent and dissatisfying to users and would show urgency in reforming and rationalising the system.”
In March the Cabinet Office launched a consultation on establishing a single Public Services Ombudsman for England, bringing together the existing jurisdictions of the PSHO, the LGO and the Housing Ombudsman.
Earlier this month the PSHO released a report saying that only a third of people who felt unhappy about public services actually made a complaint. A similar percentage felt that complaining did not make a difference.
The PSHO and the LGO have both publicly backed the creation of a single ombudsman.