Eight predictions for 2016: A view into the ombudsman world

For  a variety of reasons, in the UK the ombudsman model of dispute resolution has become an increasingly mainstream provider of civil and administrative justice. The most recent set of pressures in this direction have come from the Government's drive to pursue low-cost and user-focussed solutions to various governance problems. Partial evidence for the added focus on ombudsman schemes can be found in the number of developments taking place in the field. This post takes a look at the important events that we can already be confident of occurring in 2016, and makes a few tentative predictions.

Mapping the new world of accredited ADR schemes

The following blog first appeared on the UKAJI website on 19 October 2015. 

The ADR Directive is now fully operational in the UK. As of 1 October 2015, traders are required to notify their consumers as to their opportunities to pursue ADR and whether the trader chooses, or is bound, to adopt an accredited ADR process when complaints are received.  The focus of this blog is on the early results of the new regulatory arrangement put in place by the Directive, with a view to raising some likely issues of concern for the future.

Although the ADR Directive is primarily a consumer law issue, the overlaps in this area with administrative justice concerns are multiple, especially where ombudsman schemes are concerned (eg see Walter Merricks). Not only does the work of several accredited ADR schemes cover services which would once have been considered as essential public services, but some of the ombudsman schemes affected by the Directive are subject to judicial review. Moreover, in the medium term, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (Bis) approach to encouraging the sector will likely have an influence on the Government’s parallel efforts to upgrade the role of ADR in the traditional public sector. 

The Government’s plans for consumer ADR: Innovation or more of the same

The following blog first appeared on the website of the UK Administrative Justice Institute on 26 November, 2014.


The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has issued its response on its consultation on proposals for upgrading the provision of alternative dispute resolution for consumers. The proposals were triggered by the EU Consumer ADR Directive, but at the same time map conveniently onto the Government's current civil justice agenda of moving dispute resolution away from the courtroom. It is the parallels of this agenda with developments in the administrative justice system (AJS) which are the focus of this blog.

Another False Dawn or the Moment ADR Becomes Mainstream

This blog was originally posted on the website of the UK Constitutional Law Association on 7 May 2014

The ombudsman enterprise in the UK is in a state of flux. The last two years have witnessed a series of events that could revolutionise the architecture and impact of the sector. Alternatively, in a year or so time we could be talking about another missed opportunity in ombudsman reform.

 

The big events that have briefly brought complaints systems to the fore of public policy include the widely reported outrage at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which the 2013 Francis report found occurred in part because of a culture in the NHS of failing to take complaints seriously. Picking up on this theme, the Clwyd/Hart Report into NHS complaint-handling followed by the Public Administration Select Committee’s (PASC) twin inquiries into complaints and Parliament’s Ombudsman Service, critiqued the complaints branch of the administrative justice system, highlighting concerns about the poor service received by the user and insufficient learning from complaints. Meanwhile, the EU Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution was passed in 2013 and is currently being consulted on by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. This Directive looks set to overhaul complaint-handling in the private sector by requiring the Government to ensure that an ADR scheme is available in all contractual disputes between a consumer and a business (although neither consumer nor business will be obliged to use the service).

This blog will not explore in detail any of these developments, but will highlight the current potential for the ombudsman/ADR sector to be redesigned to enhance its impact in the justice system and the constitution.