The Local Government Ombudsman's annual letter 2008/09

The annual letter of the Local Government Ombudsman is sent to local authorities spelling out the details of complaints that the ombudsman has determined during the course of the preceding twelve months, highlighting any lessons they think appropriate in respect of the councils' performance.

The letter also comments on councils' complaint-handling arrangements generally, and how lessons might be fed back into service improvement.

The aim of the annual letter is to:

help individual councils to learn the outcome of complaints made to the ombudsman
underpin effective working relationships between the council and the ombudsman's office
identify opportunities for the ombudsman to provide assistance that a council may wish to seek in bringing about improvements to its internal complaint handling
provide complaint-based information which councils might find useful in assessing and reviewing their performance