Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman View Menu View Search Accessibility

Festive opening hours

Our telephone advice line will have amended hours on Christmas Eve - and will be open from 10am to 1pm. The helpline will then close till Friday 2 January 2026.

Complaint fact sheets

Guidance on the common types of complaint we receive

Please note: we are in the process of updating our factsheets and the information contained may not reflect our current practice.

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Required cookies
Cookie name	Description	Action
ASPSESSIONID	This helps the site to function smoothly during your visit. For example, remembering your display settings and online complaint form preferences.
CookieNotice.Analytics	Used to remember your choice for analytical cookies.
TH_TOOLBAR_SETTINGS	Stores an object containing user specific settings for the Browsealoud toolbar such as dialog positions and button states. No personally identifiable data is stored.
API_SETTINGS	Stores an object containing user specific API settings for the Browsealoud toolbar such as voice and language selection, user preferences set in the toolbar settings panel and selected styles for word highlighting. No personally identifiable data is stored.
audioalert	Stores a value ‘audioalert = true’ after the first Browsealoud audio alert.
__utma	Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.	BrowseAloud v.3 documentation Privacy policy
__utmt	Used to throttle request rate.	BrowseAloud v.3 documentation Privacy policy
__utmb	Used to determine new sessions/visits. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utmb cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.	BrowseAloud v.3 documentation Privacy policy
__utmc	Not used in ga.js. Set for interoperability with urchin.js. Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction with the__utmbcookie to determine whether the user was in a new session/visit.	BrowseAloud v.3 documentation Privacy policy
__utmz	Stores the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.	BrowseAloud v.3 documentation Privacy policy
_ga	Used to distinguish users. The ID is used only to identify the session for the statistics and is completely anonymous.	BrowseAloud v.3 documentation Privacy policy
_gat_UA-4669579-11	Used to throttle request rate. If Google Analytics is deployed via Google Tag Manager, this cookie will be named _dc_gtm_.	BrowseAloud v.3 documentation Privacy policy
_gid	Used to distinguish users.	BrowseAloud v.3 documentation Privacy policy

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

Analytical Cookies
Company	Description	Action
Google Inc = _ga	Google Analytics tracking cookie. Helps us to know how many people visit our site by tracking if you've visited before.	Terms and conditions Privacy policy
Google Inc = _gid	Google Analytics tracking cookie. Helps us to know how many people visit our site by tracking if you've visited before.	Terms and conditions Privacy policy
Google Inc = _gat	Google Analytics tracking cookie. Used to manage the rate at which page view requests are made.	Terms and conditions Privacy policy

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings

Javascript is not enabled!

It appears that your web browser does not support JavaScript, or you have temporarily disabled scripting. Either way, this site won't work without it. Please take a look at how to enable javascript for more help.