I am now nine months into the role of Ombudsman and it is a good time to take stock of progress so far and the areas of priority that are emerging both for me and the organisation as a whole.

I am a lawyer by training and, unlike my some of my predecessors, I was not involved in the delivery of local government or social care services prior to taking up this role. That gives me the ability to take a clear view, and over the last few months I have visited a variety of councils and spent time with adult social care provider organisations and have heard first-hand about the challenges they face. The pressures are acute, affecting organisations of all sizes and often coming as a result of significantly rising demand and a lack of sufficient resources. Sometimes the pressures are the result of national policy and wider change is needed to bring about improvements.

As well as looking at individual cases - and we have many coming in – the Ombudsman should also look at how local government and social care services affect society as a whole, and where the challenges are at a national level. I have done much of this over the last few months with a particular focus on special educational needs, adult social care and homelessness.

Our Local Government and Social Care Reviews, both published recently, talk about the national level issues we see and I have spent time with government Ministers, the Chairs of reviews and committees, and with wider organisations to share the evidence that comes from our casework and to encourage change. In November we will publish our Triennial Review – a report done every three years on the findings from our work – which will recommend a number of actions that would improve local services and the service we can provide to the public. As Ombudsman I will continue to work to make sure people’s voices are heard and that we strive for improvements despite the challenges we face. You can keep up to date through this newsletter and our website.

 

Amerdeep Somal,

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

We've issued guidance to councils on how they can better help victims of domestic abuse when they approach them for housing help.

We've found across a number of investigations that councils are using an outdated definition of what abuse means, which is too narrow.

Often council staff do not recognise that other forms of abuse - including financial, psychological and emotional - are just as problematic for people on the receiving end, and have failed to then provide services to people in need of homelessness support.

Our new guidance document urges councils to reassure themselves that they are looking at people’s cases through the lens of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which created new duties and powers for councils to help victims. The Act introduced a statutory definition of domestic abuse, and also amended the definition of priority need for homelessness, to include people homeless because of domestic abuse.

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We are urging councils to take a proportionate approach to people who fall foul of household waste disposal laws.

We've investigated a small number of cases recently where councils have taken a heavy-handed approach to people who have put their bins out too early, or put them in the wrong place.

Councils have a range of options open to them when dealing with bin issues, ranging from offering advice or issuing a formal warning, right through to court summons for prosecution.

We're not telling councils to stop prosecuting those people who create significant issues in their communities, or who fly-tip large volumes of waste, but we are asking councils to consider a common-sense approach to minor infractions.

We've issued new guidance to councils on their powers and duties around household waste which is available on our website.

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