Newsflash – Ombud admits lying to researchers

We had our first launch of the Informal Resolution report last night at the Nuffield Foundation’s offices in London. It was a great turn-out, including representatives from Belfast, Dublin and Cardiff and a mix of academic researchers, policy makers and ombudsfolk. It wasn’t surprising that such an audience generated a lively discussion about the problems of terminology, what’s the right balance between informality and consistency, and whether informal resolution poses risks to justice and to the ombudsman ‘brand’.

We set out our findings in terms of what informal processes are called by the ombuds and complaint handlers who use them, how frequently they are used, what criteria are used to assess suitability, whether informally resolved complaints are published, and what training case handlers have in informal resolution.

A high point was a comment by one participant whose scheme is one of the 12 we had identified as not using informal resolution. He stood up and said, “I lied to the researchers! Now that I know what we’re talking about, I realise I do that…I just never called it that.”

He hadn’t lied to us, of course – but his comment illustrates the difficulties we faced with this project in trying to clarify what it is that ombuds and complaint handlers actually do when they are resolving complaints without investigation. He also highlighted what he thinks are the risks of formalising approaches whose success to some extent relies on their informality.

It’s clear that we have only managed to scratch the surface and produce a snapshot ‘map’ of a moment in time in ombudsmanry. If our report provokes further discussion, consideration and research on the actual work of ombuds, it will have been a success.

Now looking forward to our launch next week in Edinburgh!