This page helps Councillors and MPs understand what to do, if they want to help somebody use our service or make a complaint themselves.

What complaints can the Ombudsman investigate?

We can investigate complaints about most council services. This includes services that councils pay other organisations to deliver (usually called outsourced or commissioned services).

We can investigate complaints about adult social care services that people pay for without getting their council involved. Usually this is for staying in a care home or getting care provided in their own home. 

We can also investigate complaints about some other organisations providing local services.

What do councillors or MPs often ask the Ombudsman about?

Complaints about other councils or parish councils

Sometimes councillors want to complain on behalf of another council or parish council. We cannot investigate these complaints. We can only look at complaints from members of the public.

Complaints about councillor conduct

Councillors sometimes ask us to investigate complaints about other councillors’ conduct. We usually do not investigate these. This is because we don’t have the power to look into the actions of councillors. We can look into how councils have responded to councillor conduct complaints, but we will only do this if it has caused significant injustice.

Can I help somebody in my area complain?

Yes. They must complain to the council or care provider first. You can tell them about our top tips for complaining to local authorities or top tips for complaining to care providers.

If their issue is not sorted out, they can complain to us. We have designed our service so people can complain by themselves. But we do receive many complaints where people represent somebody else. If you want to represent somebody, you must have their permission.

See our step by step process to making a complaint for information on how to complain.

Can I complain to the Ombudsman?

If the issue affects you personally, you can complain to us. But this would be as a 'member of the public'. You would need to complain to the council or care provider first and follow the step by step process above.

Is there more information to help me?

Councillor workbook

We have worked with the Local Government Association on a workbook for councillors.

This explains:

• the complaints process and your role in it
• what the Ombudsman does
• how to monitor complaints and use them to improve services
• what to do with complaints that are outside your council’s remit

Council performance data

Search for your council on our councils' performance map - which holds our complaints data for every council. It gives the opportunity to compare and contrast with other areas.

Overview of complaints

We publish a report each year giving our view on the complaints landscape in both council and adult social care services. See our Annual Reviews of Complaints for more information.

Systemic issues

Focus Reports and Good Practice Guides look at the key issues we see from our complaints, and highlight where authorities can learn from the mistakes of others. These are good potential topics for scrutiny committees to consider. They also include suggested questions for scrutiny to help councillors or MPs interrogate their authority.