Fulfilling Regulatory Potential? The office(s) of the ombudsman

By Tola Amodu

In 2023 the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman commissioned research into establishing a, ”modern, accessible, single Public Services Ombudsman (PSO), with the necessary powers to drive impact, increase access to justice, and improve services across the public sector … with an opportunity to build a more effective government” https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/sites/default/files/Social%20Finance%2C%20PHSO%20-%20The%20Value%20of%20Reform%20%28with%20amended%20URL%20text%29.pdf. Social Finance (who undertook the research) estimated that initial cost savings could be £7.7m in nominal terms over a five year period, with systemic benefits over a similar period bringing in £40m. This may seem a trivial amount but if translated across all sectors (public and private) just imagine the regulatory benefits and cost savings that might exist.

The ombudsman service in its many forms is often held out as the model of transparency and accountability, which when performing well can improve efficiency and deliver justice (recall the phrase ‘justice delayed is justice denied’). It is little wonder then that the Law Society for England and Wales states that only 20% of people think that justice is accessible Fresh ideas for 21st century justice | The Law Society. The office of the ombudsman can be seen as a key actor in improving business and public authority behaviour and securing redress, all of which are crucial to successful regulation. In that same Law Society Report, the Ombudsman service was seen as having the potential to be a key player in accessing justice, by setting the “gold standard” for out-of-court dispute resolution. The key word here is “potential”. Are we in fact maximizing that potential?

A rapid literature search of the office of the Ombudsman (generic) reveals few results for the last 12 months. These are not increased greatly if the period is extended to five years. This is confounding given that reports suggest that there is a significant rise in the number of complaints being referred to these bodies. Ombudsmen (or ombudspersons) remain an important facet of regulatory control. They enable informal redress (especially in consumer contexts, where they can be a substitute for costly court proceedings) and can improve industry performance overall. This quality control facet can be a cost-effective, “light touch” regulatory form. As yet, there is no easy way to compare the effectiveness of Ombudsmen operating in various domains. One way of doing so would be to compare activity on a like for like basis, so that “league tables” to establish comparable satisfaction in terms of outcome and process. If only.

To illustrate the Financial Ombudsman Service (FoS) received 305,726 new complaints in 2024/25, the highest level of complaints for six years Annual complaints data and insight 2024/25 – Financial Ombudsman service. In Wales reports show a “staggering” 43% increase” in the number of complaints made to the Ombudsman for Wales in the “post-covid” era 'Staggering' rise in Ombudsman complaints. The Housing Ombudsman (responsible for the public and social housing sectors) has noted a 329% increase in that sector Number of remedies required by Housing Ombudsman rises 329% in single year Annual Complaints Review 2023 to 24 | Housing Ombudsman. The Communications Ombudsman recorded for 2023 a 49% increase in communications cases and a 29% increase in energy cases. Both are part of the Trust Alliance Group approved by Ofcom and Ofgem respectively. TAG-A4-Annual-Report-Final-For-Web.pdf.

The Ombudsman Association – the trades association for ombudsman schemes and complaint handlers in the UK, Ireland, British Overseas Territories and British Crown Dependencies records some 15 members in England functioning in an officially recognised form, in its 2024 Annual Report BIOA Annual Report 2006. Some such as the FOS and the Energy Ombudsman can be seen as archetypes of the office. Others may be viewed as little more than trades associations.

The UK Government seems wedded to the office – to be expanded in the Renters’ Rights Bill currently progressing through Parliament, and it was a key part of the Cunliffe Report on the Water Industry, (as an upgrade to the Consumer Council for Water) Independent Water Commission Final Report. A House of Commons Library Report of 2025, neatly outlines the process and signposts where complaints of this type can be directed Complaining to an ombudsman. What is less clear is whether the office itself is working for those it was established to protect across the board. Although data exists, it is not easy to interrogate overall and methodologies do not seem to be entirely consistent – with some Ombudsman Offices providing percentage of complaints data, others drawing on consumer satisfaction and others resorting to trends (e.g the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman – the Commission for Local Government Administration in England has a massive remit that includes many local authority services (including Education and Children’s Services, Adult Social Care) saw a fall in complaints and enquiries received in 2022-3 by 2% and an uphold rate for investigations of 74%, increasing to 80% in 2023-4 Annual Report and Accounts of the Commission for Local Administration in England for the year 2023-24 - this does not necessarily indicate the number of initial enquiries made to that Ombudsman, which were rejected or indeed give any idea of customer satisfaction. Further, the uphold rate for Highways, planning and corporate services was well below the stated percentage overall. With the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman now reducing its remit to handling only the most serious of complaints Annual data on complaints made to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, 2023 to 2024 | Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), the message seems to be that many resort to the Ombudsman. The question is whether they may, or may not, be satisfied in terms of the outcome.

In November 2013 the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman in evidence to Parliament recorded, that, whether or not someone’s complaint is upheld has a significant impact on their satisfaction levels. Customers whose complaints were investigated and upheld had a 98% satisfaction level. In contrast, only 57% of those whose complaints we investigated but did not uphold were satisfied with our customer service overall. Similar data was cited for the FOS PHS0040 - Evidence on Parliament's Ombudsman Service.

In 2020/21 54% of consumers said they were satisfied with FoS’ service, compared with 57% the previous year. This was below its target of 65% Satisfaction with FOS drops amid Covid pandemic – Mortgage Strategy. By 2022-3 consumer satisfaction in the FoS for non-upheld cases dipped to 18% (the target being 30%) and for upheld cases was 81% Reporting against our strategic measures 2022/23 – Financial Ombudsman service . Interestingly Trustpilot reviews the service at 1.3 (equivalent to bad) from 2,000 reviewers Financial Ombudsman Service Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk. Can we infer that something similar is happening in other domains?

Such a lack in consistency raises a number of issues. The key one remains: how data is collated and how satisfaction is measured (if at all). Crucially nobody seems to know what consumers (or customers, both those using the service and those whose behaviour is being monitored) actually think across the whole landscape. Metrics of equivalence need to be devised to actually measure the effectiveness of this form of control in terms of both redress and service quality improvement. Enquiring into public perception (in all its facets) is key understanding both real time activity and potential for the future. Unless or until a consistent, possibly centralized, form of oversight is initiated, the office of the Ombudsman remains opaque. It becomes difficult to establish who indeed are the best (or worst) performers in such an important regulatory sector. It is surely time to deep dive into the office, undertake some research and truly see if, for each sector, the role of the Ombudsman is working.