Who can complain?

Any person or organisation who is a member of the public for the purposes of the SPSO Act 2002.  

You can make a complaint on your own, or jointly with someone else but what we investigate are individual complaints rather than petitions or general representations from groups.  We can't take complaints from Community Councils (for more about this please see separate FAQ).

At times members of the public bring complaints to the SPSO through an independent advocate or adviser, an MSP or MP, a friend, relative or neighbour. You can ask someone else to act on your behalf  in putting a complaint to the SPSO but we need written confirmation or consent that you want that person to do so. 

Anonymous Complaints
Please note that it is very unlikely that we could act on an anonymous complaint.   If you are concerned about the implications of making a complaint and want to discuss this with a member of staff, please contact us.

See the How to Complain section of this website for further information