The English Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman: Systemic administrative justice and bureaucratisation Part 2

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) is the principal administrative justice institution mechanism as regards English local government. This is the second part of a two-part article that presents an inductive study of the LGSCO’s investigations into systemic failures by councils and their responses to the ombuds. Drawing upon a sample of 40 of the LGSCO’s public reports and councils’ responses to them, the article assesses the ombuds’ role and its effectiveness in improving public service delivery. Part 1 of this article concluded that the LGSCO has strategically enhanced its role of improving administration by identifying systemic faults and problems which affect a wider population. This part examines the reaction and responses of councils to the ombuds’ public reports and accompanying service improvement recommendations. It explores: councils’ compliance with the ombuds; how council committees consider and respond to its public reports; the nature of its service improvement recommendations; and how the ombuds manages non-compliance by authorities. It finds that councils overwhelmingly comply with the LGSCO’s service improvement recommendations; its public reports enable councillors to scrutinise their councils. It is argued that these various service improvement recommendations are best understood through the concept of bureaucratisation; they are designed to ensure that councils become better managed through formal policies and procedures so that they can perform their functions more effectively. The ombuds now exercises a wider influence upon councils. Comparison with other redress institutions suggests that the ombuds has real advantages in improving administration. There is more the ombuds could do, although its outlook seems mixed given the wider financial context. Nonetheless, it performs a significant role in improving local services.