Impact of the changing environment on local government complaints
The local government and social care ombudsman has told local authorities not to “throw out the rule book” when redesigning services in the face of budget and resource pressures.
The ombudsman’s report contains nearly 40 case studies illustrating problems that have arisen from councils changing the way they provide services. The report also recognises that, although the ombudsman receives relatively few complaints compared to the scale of local government services, sharing the learning from these cases can help councils avoid unforeseen negative consequences from change programmes.