The Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman’s Report into Personal Independence Payment and Collective Administrative Justice (Pt 1)

Benefit decision-making is often criticised for its variable quality. Individual redress through tribunals is necessary, but also insufficient. More comprehensive forms of collective justice are required to uncover the underlying structural causes of poor-quality decision-making. One such mechanism is the own-initiative powers of ombudsmen to investigate systemic maladministration. This article examines the first own-initiative investigation undertaken by a UK ombudsman—that of the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman into Personal Independence Payments. This article examines the Ombudsman’s investigation, the contexts in which it arose, its significance and the response of government to it. The article argues that the Ombudsman’s investigation exemplifies the wider endeavour of collective justice. It complements individual redress mechanisms and provides a depth and breadth of scrutiny that they cannot. The Ombudsman’s PIP investigation has both made government accountable and led to important changes to the PIP system. At the same time, the scale and ambition of achieving collective justice through an own-initiative investigation are matched by the challenges in securing systemic improvements. The article is structured in two parts. Part 1 examines the conceptual and practical differences between individual and collective justice, the Ombudsman’s own-initiative powers, the PIP system, the Ombudsman’s detailed findings and how the systemic maladministration became deeply embedded within the institutional culture of the PIP system. Part 2 considers the Ombudsman’s recommendations, the response of government, its progress in implementing those recommendations and in improving the PIP system, the challenges involved and the wider significance of the investigation.