BackThe Edinburgh-based Queen Margaret University, which has an excellent reputation as a centre for ombudsman and complaint handling practice, published a research report on the future of ombudsmen schemes in the United Kingdom.
The report summarises the findings of a research project commissioned by the Legal Ombudsman and its purpose was to identify how ombudsman schemes are likely to develop in the future; a very broad and challenging research agenda, developing in the context of rapid social, political and technological change. The overall aim of the research is to describe what a successful ombudsman scheme will look like in future.
Overall, this research has identified that changes in ombudsman schemes are being driven by developments in consumer behaviour, in the service provision offered by the organisations investigated by ombudsman schemes and in the policy environment. It furthermore found, that these drivers require a response from individual ombudsman schemes and from the ombudsman community.
The report concludes by providing a tentative description of what a successful ombudsman scheme will look like in future. The research has identified eight ways in which ombudsman schemes may need to shift their practices in order to respond to the many challenges.
Source: Queen Margaret University, Scotland
