Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Reviews 

A total waste of time.
The SPSO carried out no investigation as the Council blatantly broke policy, rules and regulations. To make matters worse, part of the complaint was a public safety concern which was supported by irrefutable evidence which was totally ignored in both the original complaint and the complaint review.

Just as incompetent and corrupt as the organisations for which they act as gatekeeper’s. Not to be trusted and quite frankly they appear to exist simply to tick the box of “Independent Arbitrators”. Which they clearly are not. Don’t expect any impartial, fair and transparent investigation, that is not their function. In a way it stands to reason that an organisation funded by the very organisations that they are expected to Police is unlikely to be fit for purpose. An utter disgrace. They are the reason why so many organisations have to be reported in the first place. The very fact that 95% of contributors on Trustpilot have given “Poor” ratings as opposed to 5% “Excellent” ratings should make the Scottish Government sit up and take notice. This organisation is FAILING the very people it was set up to PROTECT and on whose behalf they should be arbitrating. It is clear they need replacing or cleaning out.

The SPSO only seem to exist to protect public authorities from genuine scrutiny when things go wrong.
They are all part of the problem and that is why the public will never get a fair level of service whilst these expensive and corrupt organisations are there to sweep the dirt under the carpet for the incompetence and malpractice of the large public service bodies.
They themselves should be investigated for misleading the public and being dishonest about their true operational nature.

SPSO are not independent they always favour in the organisation being complained about. What is also disturbing is during a complaint, when an upheld provisional decision is all uphelded, then the organisation being complained about write to the SPSO complaining about the first original advisor used and criticises their professional judgement and demands another advisor! Since when did an independent Ombudsman take orders from the NHS telling them what to do? The SPSO are not being fully independent and I think another independent Ombudsman that is not related to the Scottish Government needs to be created for fair and accurate investigations. The SPSO are adding to the trauma and stress that the organisations created. They are obvious working together to ensure that no NHS trust or Local Authority is held accountable for neglect, failure and abuse to the public.

The biggest corrupt organisation I have had to deal with , I asked for a transcript of the call I had with a member of the staff was told on the phone all calls are recorded I asked her is this call being recorded she said yes !!!!! Now I no the advisor has given me false information and also said things that she should not had said that is why I wanted the proof but low and behold this conversation was lost not recorded or you mean this is a stitch up and we need to get rid of the evidence for years people have been going to this corrupt organisation and thousands have been rejected or been lied to by this organisation we need to get this corrupt organisation closed get a independent organisation in the people that get paid don't have a clue this is shocking I have asked for a public investigation into this case let's see if I get it cause I have evidence of my own that will rock this organisation and hopefully close it bet I don't even get a response 🤬🤬🤬

Probably just as big a waste of time as complaining to your local Authority to start with. Clearly not independent or impartial and their integrity has to be questionable.

The SPSO is partial constantly acting in favour of the council housing and the housing associations, incompetent they cannot distinguish a genuine complaint where there is a breach of the law, discriminatory they discriminate tenants in favour of the council and the housing associations for which they work for….dealing with them is a waste of time…

I agree with most of the comments on here. The SPSO is an absolute disgrace.
The evidence of malpractice and malfeasance by local authority is plain as day yet the SPSO just spew gibberish which does not make sense.
Disgusting organisation.

Let's fight to get this corrupt organisation closed its run so all local authorities will never have to come clean I told them that a local authorities had to consult with taxi drivers when fees go up under a section of Scottish law the council in their lies said we had a meeting yet 7 taxi driver will under oath say that was never discussed yet cause the lies from a council and the corrupt organisation agree you won't win so don't use these corrupt organisation I am willing to give you free legal advice the best to my knowledge on matters that if I can help save you coming to this corrupt organisation look under Scottish Paralegal Services and email me I won a case against a council fighting it on my own this was just to prove to people that this corrupt organisation won't help use as you will see by the 1 star reviews

Ther Scottish Public Services Ombudsnman is useless.
I have decided to take her to court.
The main problem with SPSO is that she is apponited by
Her Majesty The Queen and can only be dismissed by H M The Queen. SPSO therefore thinks she can get away with anything.

Useless and very unhelpful set up by the Scots Government to protect their share holders and thus a link to corruption in Scottish Council's it protects Housing Trusts Dumfries & Galloway Housing Partnership and many others since their is massive cover- ups on the state and old age of those properties accidents are common and injuries are long lasting. Sub standard properties with flat roofs used to house tenants who suffer intensively prolonging ill health and many people unhappy with poor service and badly abused by poor social housing. They are getting big money for the most appalling pits. This Scottish Public Services is in very poor state of affairs we are wasting our time and money also dealing with them.

SPSO is harming individual members of the public by hiding public service failings, victim blaming and providing comfort and protection to councils that harm children - thereby allowing them to continue. If you have a complaint about something serious that has caused real trauma and suffering, I would warn you against going to SPSO. Rather than acting to help the victim, find the facts of the case, seek a simple apology and improve services for the future, the opposite happens. In a meeting with the SPSO following our atrocious 2 year “investigation” we asked Rosemary Agnew what evidence they sought and found to show the council had followed policy in our case. They had none. Meanwhile there was plenty of evidence showing they had violated policy, including statutory policy. Rosemary Agnew argued that statutory policy is discretionary, that they were confused, that black is white, that they should have investigated things they had promised to, and that we should spend our time helping other families in our situation rather than pursuing accountability for our own. Prior to meeting SPSO, I had thought their failures were simply due to incompetence and disorganisation, but following it, it was clear to us that SPSO were deliberately covering up a school’s dramatic and chronic failure that did lasting harm to children. In addition, the council weakened child protections following our case, presumably to prevent other families evidencing failures in Duty of Care.

Many vulnerable people reach out to SPSO about the trauma they have just experienced within public services. The experience is that of being repeatedly kicked when you are at your lowest and can lead to illness. I believe it has led to suicide for some. SPSO needs proper oversight and overhaul, to right its many wrongs and compensate its victims.

A blatent theft and attempted intimidation to keep quiet by a government employee, with a record of such behaviour, of a disabled pensioner was not considered worthy of any action after the local government employer of the thief believed his story that the owner had given him the stolen item as a Christmas present, that was two months after the item was stolen. The owner did not even know the thief's name until about two weeks after thr theft. The SPSO is the final civic absolution of government crooks, and not what it claims to be. Don't waste your time or get your hopes up.

Simply awful my experience with this organisation no communication despite repeated request to reply
Waste of taxpayers money

A department so badly run, I am actively calling for it to be changed by parliament.

I was refused the self isolation payment by the council twice i then contacted the spso who were very helpful and understanding through the difficilt time i experienced they overturned the councils decision in my favour a great service from start to finish

Absolute abomination of an organisation not Independent,corrupt,lying scum only there to thwart and run time down before seeking justice within a 3 year limit.
They are puppets for the NHS put there to ignore every complaint no matter how much evidence you have and answerable to nobody.
I have never seen anyone so blase wether it's your local Cab,complaints,Mp or Judicial reviews their all as corrupt as one another trying to close your complaint at every opportunity or ignore every factual evidence you present and then take offense when you question their integrity and honesty.
This organisation is there to stop every investigation against organisations by members of the public,they are all morally repugnant,two faced liars who wouldnt get a job anywhere else.
I plan to name every last one on social media with facts and let members of the public decide their fates and I'm going to start a petition to get this taken into public hands as you really need to be a person without morals,the underbelly of society to work for them,shameless liars who will do everything in their power to be rewarded for stopping people taking their masters to court.
Cant think of any organisation apart from the NHS who they work for that comes under all the above.
Just a rotten corrupt abomination of a place and everyone in it.

SPSO are biased in favour of the people they are meant to oversee.

Any argument you raise in a complaint that cannot be answered is ignored.

Everything the organization does is correct (and to heck if it breaches the organizations own written procedures, as these seemingly don't need to be followed). The organization can do what they like without oversight.

Evidence, whether written or photographic can, and is, ignored.

Any point that SPSO feel you are correct on then an apology covers the issue or they tell you to complaint again to the organization - thus dissolving the SPSO of doing what they are paid actually paid to do.

The SPSO should be shut down as it has failed in its duty.

Took the facts and distorted them and ignored them to allow the case to be won by the defendant. They are out of their depth at the SPSO, and won’t admit.

We must move to a web based portal where complainant and defender are given time to discuss the problem and gives the complainant fair opportunity to cut-off any false or misleading data a defender may serve. Also, act as an alert to display the SPSO, employee maybe out of their depth, or deliberate misleading or just that require a complaint requirement more professional back-up.

Suggestion is based on the Energy Ombudman system.

spso in my experience are downright dishonest,
progressed to the spso for my housing association not following their own policies and procedures,spso stated they did not have to,
bad enough housing association being dishonest but the watchdog also being dishonest,
scottish goverment fail to poke them into line,
shame on the lot of them