Advice & Outreach

A key feature of the SPSO is accessibilty. We aim to be accessible to all and responsive to the needs of our users.  We raise awareness of our office with members of the public that want to use our service and organisations that work with and are in direct contact with members of the public and staff of organisations about which we can take complaints.

The Advice & Outreach Team

Working with the public

The Advice & Outreach Team are always happy to speak to members of the public about the work of our office.  The team can give general advice on bringing a complaint to the SPSO and also refer complainants to an SPSO Complaints Reviewer for detailed guidance. 

The Advice & Outreach Team welcome invitations to speak to groups about our work in particular from organisations under our remit.   We also have a dedicated Training Unit that offers training packages to bodies under SPSO jurisdiction.

Working with organisations

If your organisation comes within the remit of the SPSO or you work in an advisory role for an organisation, such as Citizens Advice Bureau, here are some details on what we can do for you:

talk to you
We aim to raise awareness, knowledge and understanding of our office.  We will make sure that you can easily access our service and we can work with you to help staff learn from complaint handling. 

We particularly look forward to working with front line staff who are in direct contact with members of the public.  We welcome discussions about staff training, our role and your role in dealing with complaints, best practice and lessons learned from complaints.

listen to you
Staff are welcome to contact our office for general advice on complaint handling and policy and procedure implementation.  We are happy to provide guidance and support at any stage, although we can’t discuss the specifics of individual complaints as these may come to us at a later stage.  We can give advice on handling complaints and also on when and how to use them as a means of monitoring and improvement.

provide you
The Advice & Outreach can advise you if your organisation is under our remit, of your requirements to publicise information about your complaints procedure and of the right to take a complaint to the Ombudsman.  We can send you material to help you meet statutory requirements, our Advice & Outreach leaflets carry information about what we do and our Monthly Commentary gives examples of investigated complaints.
 
update you
We share best practice and work with organisations to fulfil our remit of improving public services through good complaint handling.  Our Outreach activities include participating in conferences, meetings, workshops and other events to inform stakeholders and members of the public about the Ombudsman’s role.

now over to you
The Advice & Outreach Team look forward to hearing from you on how we can assist or to answer any questions about our work.  Please contact us by following this link.