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The Local Government Ombudsmen investigate complaints of injustice arising from maladministration by local authorities and certain other bodies.
In other words, they look into whether the council has caused someone problems by breaking its own rules, failing to follow its own procedures, acting illegally, or otherwise fouling up.

There are three Local Government Ombudsmen in England and they each deal with complaints from different parts of the country.
Which means they are wildly overworked and take - literally - years to make a decision.

They investigate complaints about most council matters including housing, planning, education, social services, consumer protection, drainage and council tax.
Their final report is public, and sent to the local papers. But they will disguise your name - expect to be referred to as Miss Manchester or Miss Buttercup, or some such thing.

The Ombudsmen can investigate complaints about how the council has done something. But they cannot question what a council has done simply because someone does not agree with it.
A crucial point. You may think the council's decision stinks, but if it was made properly and according to the rules, that's tough. The Ombudsman can't do a thing for you - even if he/she also thinks the decision stinks.

A complainant must give the council concerned an opportunity to deal with a complaint against it first. It is best to use the council's own complaints procedure, if it has one. If the complainant is not satisfied with the action the council takes, he or she can send a written complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman, or ask a councillor to do so on their behalf.
ie, the ombudsman is the last resort.

The objective of the Ombudsmen is to secure, where appropriate, satisfactory redress for complainants and better administration for the authorities.
The Ombudsman can do one of three things: not uphold your complaint, rule that there was maladministration, or rule that there was maladministration with injustice. In plain English, the first one means you lose, the second means you win on points, and the third means you've got the council bang to rights.
In the last two cases the Ombudsman will make recommendations on what the council can do to sort out the problem, and recommend a sum of compensation that the council should pay you. The council could, legally, ignore what the Ombudsman says but it would be a very dodgy decision and almost never happens. Almost.
Don't expect to retire on the money - it's a few years since I used to read Omudsman reports as a reporter, but I don't remember anyone getting more than about two grand for the very worst council cock-ups.

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