What you need to know

Sometimes we receive complaints that we cannot look at. People are sometimes unhappy when we have to tell them this. To avoid having to disappoint you, it is helpful if you can think whether your complaint is one we can consider. In particular, please ask yourself the following questions:

• Have I already complained to the public body itself?

We will usually expect you to have complained to the public body first and given it the chance to respond to your complaint. However, we will make exceptions if we consider that your complaint is very urgent, for example, if your immediate safety is at risk.
If you have made a complaint but think the body is taking too long to deal with it (we think 12 weeks is a reasonable time for them to give you a final reply) you can complain to us. You can also complain to us if you are unhappy with the body’s response.
If you are not sure about how to go about complaining to the public body, you can phone our Complaints Advice Team on 0845 601 0987, who will help you.

• Is the Ombudsman’s office the right place for me to take my complaint?

I have set out in this leaflet the types of bodies we can consider complaints about, but if you have access to the internet, there is a more detailed list available on our website: www.ombudsman-wales.org.uk

You should also be aware that we cannot look into your complaint if you have a legal right of appeal or the right to take the matter to court, unless there are particular circumstances that make it unreasonable for you to do so.

• Is the matter one that the law allows the Ombudsman to look at? 

For example: 
- you may disagree with a decision of a public body but, if the body had a right to make the decision and arrived at it properly, then we cannot look into your complaint 
- although we can consider complaints about recruitment or appointment procedures, we cannot look into other staff matters such as pay or discipline 
- in relation to education, we cannot look into matters about teaching, the curriculum, conduct, discipline or management in schools and colleges 
- we cannot either look into complaints about the level of rent and service charges set by a housing association.

• Am I complaining within a reasonable time?

It can be difficult to look into things that happened a long time ago. We therefore normally expect you to bring your complaint to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the problem. However, if you have already spent time complaining directly to the body concerned, we will take this into account.