Ombudsman Services:Property Pt (4) The Full English Cover-Up 87: Our response to: R.M.Kirkham "The Ombudsman, tribunals and justice section: A 2020 vision for the Ombudsman Sector.

1) Foreword / Introduction / The Context in Which Administrative Justice Operates.

 

Dear Reader,

This is a response to R. M. Kirkham's 2016 "The Ombudsman, Tribunals and Administrative Justice Section: A 2020 Vision for the Ombudsman Sector. (Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 38 (1).

The article is an analysis of the growth of ombudsman schemes since 2010 and in the foreword it is suggested we need to, "guard against complacency."

In the Introduction the author believes that after a period of relative continuity - a continuity of Coalition Government Tory/Liberal Democrat austerity - that, "the shifts in focus within the system are becoming more embedded and the overall impact on the ombudsman sector easier to anticipate."

By 2016 The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign had been calling for a public inquiry into Ombudsman Services:Property for 6 years. The Liberal Democrat politicians installed at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, notably Vince Cable and Jo Swinson, hadn't responded to a single email we'd sent them, DJS Research had lost the contract produce independent Customer Satisfaction Reports for the company and its CEO and Chief Ombudsman, Lewis Shand Smith was able to proclaim, "a superb model of ADR."

Complacency appeared to be the order of the day.

Especially as DJS Research had reported in what was to be their last CSR that, "8.24: To  be effective SOS (later re-branded OS:P) must be seen  as an impartial arbitrator between parties - currently this does not seem to be the consensus of opinion."  A year after DJS Research were replaced the new organisation was able to somewhat miraculously report that satisfaction levels were consistently high across all sectors. There was no separate CSR for Ombudsman Services:Property and "surveys" had been conducted by telephone.

We tried to point this out to the BIS. We were ignored. What was becoming "embedded" was a culture of aversion to transparency and accountability. 

As a direct result of the coalition government's political decision not to scrutinise the scheme they'd sanctioned on behalf of the taxpayer,  complainant dissatisfaction levels continued to grow. Had they'd done the job that we - the taxpayer - pay them to do things would have been dramatically different but they didn't and it wasn't.

R.M. Kirkham continues, "In terms of scrutiny and management of the overall system only in Scotland and Wales does there remain an enduring Government commitment to independent Holistic oversight."

In England there's the Administrative Justice Forum. But, "The Forum's true purpose or meaningful impact is unclear, as it has no powers to even report, let alone commission research." Set against a back-drop of austerity and buccaneering free-market-capitalism or captured capitalism or as we prefer to call the shambles; rigged market capitalism a watch-dog with rubber teeth was only to be expected.

NEXT TIME: The EU Directive 2013/11/EU - The Independent Assessor - a redefinition of "fair" and "independent."                                                                                                                                                                                          The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign is seeking: 

1) Answers from; Lewis Shand Smith former CEO, Chief Ombudsman of OS and Chair of the Ombudsman Association, Dame Janet Finch former Chair of Ombudsman Services, Jonathan May former Director of the OFT, Vince Cable former BIS Secretary of State, Jo Swinson former BIS Minister, Sajid Javid former Secretary of State for BIS, Steven Gould RICS Director of Regulation and OS Board Member, Yvonne Fovargue Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Consumer Protection, Dame Julie Mellor former Parliamentary and health services Ombudsman, Grant Shapps, 

2) A public inquiry into Ombudsman Services:Property (a company formerly trading as the SOS before being re-branded) and the role of The RICS in its "effective resolution of disputes."                                                                    

3) Compensation for the victims of its executives' malaministration and its property ombudsman's illogical Final Decisions.                                            

4) The setting up of a state-run; fair, independent, transparent and accountable system of administrative justice.                                                                                                                                                                          Yours sincerely,                                                                                                Stephen Gilbert - The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign.