Asking for a review of an SPSO decision

This section tells you how to ask the SPSO to review our decision on your case.

Please note that there is a separate process to follow if you are unhappy about the service you have received - in these cases you should refer to the section called how to complain about our service.

How we consider your complaint

Information about the SPSO’s investigation process is explained in the leaflet called: 'What happens when you bring your complaint to the SPSO'.

Role of SPSO when considering individual complaints

We provide a free, independent, and impartial service for handling complaints about public services in Scotland. Our role is to make a decision on each case by taking into account all the available facts and evidence. We do this by carefully considering the views and opinions of both the person making the complaint and whoever is being complained about.

Our duty is to help public services improve through our investigations and determinations. We also help to put things right if you have experienced injustice and hardship because an organisation has delivered a service badly or failed to provide a service. We are not an advocacy agency (an agency that acts in favour of a particular cause, idea or policy), but we do make sure that the rights of people who complain are respected.

In asking us to consider your complaint, you accept the way in which we work and our authority to come to a final decision in the matter. We will work with you and those you have complained about to make sure the facts of your complaint are accurate. However, it is for us to interpret the facts and the available evidence and come to a judgment.

The grounds on which you can ask us to review our decision on your case are limited. We will not accept a request for a review on the basis that you simply disagree with the outcome of your case.

Asking for a review

The grounds on which you can ask for a review are limited, you can only ask for a review if you consider that:

• we made our decision based on important evidence that contained facts that were not accurate, and you can show this using readily available information.

• you have new and relevant information that was not previously available and which affects the decision we made. (When sending ‘new and relevant information’ to us, please tell us if the body you complained about has been given the opportunity to consider the information and if possible, please include the organisation’s updated response to that).

We will not accept a request for a review just because you disagree with the outcome of your complaint.

How to ask for a review

A review request form should be used to ask for a review, we can send you a copy if you call us on 0800 377 7330, or you can download it at the following link: review request form.

You should write to the Ombudsman within three weeks of the date of the date of our decision on your case. The Ombudsman will decide if your request is eligible for a review based on the above grounds. We aim to provide a full response within 20 working days of receiving your request. The response will let you know whether the response is eligible, and, if it is, it will tell you whether we will uphold our original decision or reopen your complaint.

If you are still unhappy, we will only consider your case if we choose to based on the facts you provide. If you want to challenge our decision again, you will only be able to do this using judicial review proceedings. Judicial review is a form of court proceeding where a judge reviews whether a decision or action made by a public body is lawful. You may want to take legal advice before deciding whether this is appropriate in your case.

Information about requesting a review can be found on the leaflet 'Your complaint, our decision' which can be accessed via this link.

What can you do if you think we have got something wrong in an Investigation Report?

As is explained in the leaflet ‘What happens when you bring your complaint to the SPSO’, at the end of an investigation the Complaints Reviewer will send you and the organisation a draft version of the report, to give you both a chance to highlight any factual inaccuracies before the final version is published. Any comments received will be considered carefully but the decision on what to include in the report, the findings and conclusions are ours.

Freedom of Information

In March 2009 we were asked to release copies of 'challenge decision letters' produced by SPSO and issued to individuals who had challenged the decisions reached on their complaints. We considered this request very carefully in line with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and with particular reference to Scottish Information Commissioner's Decision reference 080/2008, which we felt was highly relevant.

We decided that it was appropriate to release these documents but that they needed to be edited to ensure we were not breaching the right to confidentiality of any of our complainants or other third parties, either in terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 or the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002. It follows that by breaching either of those Acts, we would be in breach also of sections 38(1)(b) and 26(a) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act respectively. The documents have therefore been redacted accordingly.

In February 2010 the Scottish Information Commissioner published his further decision about our handling of a Freedom of Information request. This request was about the redactions we have made on published challenge decision letters, and can be read at Scottish Information Commissioner’s Decision Notice reference 031/2010.

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