Call to strengthen ombudsman powers
David Brindle
The Guardian,
Wednesday August 27 2008
Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/aug/27/disability.ombudsman
A stand-off between the local government ombudsman and Trafford council in Manchester is exposing the limits of the ombudsman's powers and prompting calls for rulings to be made enforceable.
Trafford is refusing to pay the £100,000 compensation recommended by the ombudsman for the family of Carly Wright, a young woman with profound disabilities whose needs were neglected by the council when she was due to transfer from children's services to those for adults. Her parents, Wilma and Peter Wright, have started an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website, urging that all such rulings be made binding by law.
This is not the first time that Conservative-run Trafford has defied the ombudsman. Last year, it refused to agree to waive repayment of a housing grant it had made to an elderly woman with mental health problems who had been unaware of a change in the rules governing such a clawback. The ombudsman in the case, Anne Seex, said she was dismayed that Trafford had "responded in what I can only describe as a cavalier manner to the prejudice of a very vulnerable citizen".
That episode ended with Seex requiring the council to pay for space in the local press in which she set out her findings - the most that the ombudsman can do in the event of a local authority refusing to accept a ruling. Such a step has not yet been reached in the Wrights' case.
Other councils that have rejected ombudsman recommendations include East Riding of Yorkshire and Blackpool. But Tony Redmond, lead ombudsman, says that while such cases are "extremely disappointing", they are few and far between. More than 17,000 complaints were made against councils in England last year and redress was obtained in 3,000 instances. "We are talking about one or two a year where recommendations are not being implemented."
Mandatory rulings would risk weakening the investigation process, Redmond argues. "We know that we have to, in a sense, convince the council of the merits of our recommendations and the way they have been evidenced."
The Wrights' e-petition is at petitions.number10.gov.uk/justiceforcarly
Local Government OmbudsmanWatch:- http://www.ombudsmanwatch.org
LGOWatch forum discussions on Trafford case:- http://www.amv3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=792&start=0
LGOWatch forum:- http://www.amv3.com/forum/index.php
Colin Revell
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