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Petition to expose Trafford
Council's failure to care for the Wright family's disabled daughter and
their refusal
to implement the Local Government Ombudsman's
recommendations.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/justiceforcarly/
Wilma Wright's fight for justice has
taken three long years and, thanks to Trafford Council, continues to this
day. She asked for assistance in the care of her daughter, Carly, in June
2005 but, in spite of numerous requests, Trafford Council refused to provide
adequate support.
In July 2005, Wilma Wright submitted
a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), the body responsible
for investigating Council maladministration. In July 2007, they found in her
favour and recommended Trafford Council should pay £100,000 as compensation
for their actions regarding Wilma and her daughter.
Unfortunately, the LGO has no powers
to enforce financial or other penalties and Trafford Council have simply
refused to make any such payment. Wilma Wright has many supporters,
including Public Service Ombudsman Watchers
[1].
We are all trying to raise public awareness of
this case in an attempt to help Wilma secure the compensation she
deserves.
The actions of Trafford Council are
beneath contempt but, unfortunately, Wilma Wright's case is just the tip of
a very large iceberg. Some 18,000 complaints about Councils are submitted to
the LGO every year but the vast majority of these fail to reach a
satisfactory conclusion. Out of every 10,000 complaints submitted to the LGO
only 64 of them are reported as maladministration with injustice.
Lengthy procedures and excessive
delays by Councils force many complainants to terminate their fight for
justice. In most cases, correspondence between Councils and LGOs, and
conversations upon which their decisions are based, are not transparent and
cannot be challenged by the complainant. In a court of law, all parties are
aware of the evidence and have the opportunity to dispute it where
appropriate.
There is also the important question
of impartiality, all LGOs and their deputies are ex Council employees. This
could, in part, explain why it is very rare for LGOs to find in favour of a
complainant and report a Council's actions as maladministration.
In the few cases where
maladministration is discovered, a 'Local Settlement' is often agreed
between the LGO and the Council. In these circumstances no maladministration
is reported and the complainant has no other option but to accept this
outcome.
Unless an urgent reform of the
current system is undertaken, Councils will continue to maladministrate in
the knowledge that LGOs are impotent and biased. Even on the extremely rare
occasion that they are found guilty of maladministration a growing number of
Councils, like Trafford, are ignoring LGO's recommendations with impunity.
Public Service Ombudsman Watchers
http://www.psow.co.uk/
21st August 2008
[1]
Public Service Ombudsman Watchers is dedicated to exposing Public Service
Ombudsmen to public scrutiny. Whilst we are involved with monitoring the
effectiveness of all Public Service Ombudsmen, we are particularly concerned
about the extremely low levels of maladministration reported by Local
Government Ombudsmen. For example the Parliamentary and Health Service
Ombudsman reports maladministration in about 68% of cases submitted. In
contrast, Local Government Ombudsmen report maladministration in only 0.64%
of complaints submitted.
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