When to take a complaint to the ombudsman

Complaining is a fact of life, and when things go wrong with a company it’s important to contact it and ask for the issue to be corrected. 

In most situations, problems are rectified quickly and easily after a complaint is made. 

But unfortunately in some cases the firm may not reply or might not give you the answer you’re looking for. 

This is where the ombudsman comes in, and here we explain how it works and why you might need it.

What is an ombudsman?

An ombudsman is an independent service that can help you deal with an unresolved complaint you might have with an organisation. There are ombudsmen for a variety of sectors, from banks and building societies to broadband and TV firms.

Ombudsman services are also called What is Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)?

You can’t just contact the ombudsman if you’ve got a complaint, however. First, you'll need to fully pursue the internal complaints process of the company you're in dispute with first. 

If the company refuses to do what you ask to sort out the problem, or doesn’t respond at all, you should ask for a ‘letter of deadlock’ to show you've done all you can to resolve your complaint.

How the ombudsman can help

Once you've got the letter, or if the company fails to respond within a reasonable period of time, you can take your complaint to the ombudsman.

Ombudsman schemes tend to cover a particular industry or sector, including private companies and public or governmental organisations. 

Ombudsman schemes are free for consumers to use, and are an alternative to going to court to sort out a problem.

What the ombudsman covers

The ombudsman will look at a case where an individual has suffered personal injustice, hardship or financial loss because of the action or lack of action of a particular organisation.

You must show that you've tried to resolve your dispute with the company in question before taking your complaint to the ombudsman and you'll need to provide evidence of this. 

You'll need to check the conditions of the ombudsman scheme you want to use before submitting your complaint. 

There are usually some conditions including:

• time limits for making a complaint
• limits on the amount of compensation you can be awarded

If you find there are limits relating to your particular complaint, you may want to take your complaint to court instead.

How to contact the ombudsman

Different ombudsmen have different procedures – some may ask you to fill out an online complaint form, while for others you may need to write a letter outlining your problem.

If it’s the latter make sure you include the following information:

• your name and address
• the name and address of the organisation the complaint is being made about
• details of what your complaint is about, including exactly what the company did that it shouldn’t have (or what it didn’t do that it should have done)
• what you have lost in terms of personal injustice, financial loss, hardship or inconvenience
• what you would like the organisation to do to put things right 
• details of what you have done so far to try to resolve the complaint
• copies of any relevant letters, emails, invoices or receipts

How to find the right scheme

The main public or government ombudsman schemes are:

• The Parliamentary Ombudsman - for complaints about government departments and public bodies in England.
• The NHS Ombudsman - for complaints about the NHS (part of the Parliamentary Ombudsman).
• The Local Government Ombudsman - for complaints about local councils and some other local organisations.
• The European Ombudsman - for complaints about EU organisations.

The main private schemes are:

• The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)- for complaints about banks, investment companies, insurance companies and other financial services.
• The Legal Ombudsman - for complaints about lawyers or claims management companies in England and Wales.
• The Ombudsman Services - for complaints about energy or communications providers.
• The Property Ombudsman (formerly known as the Ombudsman for Estate Agents) - for complaints about estate agents.
• The Housing Ombudsman - for complaints about member landlords and agents.
• The Dispute Resolution Ombudsman - for complaints about furniture, home improvement and retail.

What to expect from the ruling

Once the ombudsman has investigated your complaint, they will recommend a remedy. 

This could be telling the company to do one or a combination of the following:

• explain why it treated you the way it did
• apologise
• change its practices or procedures to make sure what happened to you doesn’t happen to other people in future
• pay you a certain amount of compensation.

If an ombudsman receives lots of complaints about similar issues, it can ask an organisation or government department to review or change the way it works, which will improve things for other people.

In the public sector, organisations must cooperate with an ombudsman's investigation but they can refuse to do what the ombudsman recommends.

In the private sector, companies tend to accept what the ombudsmen tells them to do. If they don’t, it's likely that they would get thrown out of the scheme. 

However, the FOS is different - its powers are legally binding - so a court can force a company to do what the FOS tells it to.

Taking your case to court

In the private sector, an ombudsman’s decision is final and you can’t appeal if you disagree with it. 

However, if you lose and feel strongly that the ombudsman’s decision was unfair, you can take your case to court. The type of court you go to will depend on the financial value lost. The small claims court, for example, is for cases worth up to £10,000 (£5,000 in Scotland and Northern Ireland).

The judge should look at your case independently of the ombudsman’s decision.

In the case of a public sector ombudsmen, you can challenge a decision only through a judicial review, which is a serious and complicated process, and you would need expert legal help to do this.