The Review of Local Government Complaints covering 2022-23 landed in in-trays this summer as difficult times for public services continue to pile pressure on the sector.

According to the report from the office of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, the service is now less likely to carry out investigations into borderline issues. 
The Ombudsman's office has not been immune from the diminishing resources conundrum. Interim ombudsman Paul Najsarek tells The MJ: ‘I think we've essentially lost a couple of per cent of our budget between the last financial year and this one'. Asked about the impact of this on his organisation, he says the question for him is ‘we operate in the public interest and we show good value for money – because that's what everyone expects from the Ombudsman's Service'.
He gives the example of a case in a council of four complaints, three of which have been dealt with by the council satisfactorily ‘and there's one outstanding that is perhaps less serious than some of the others.
‘It's totally that person's right to come to the Ombudsman and say: "I'm concerned about that outstanding element"', he continues. ‘But I think it's reasonable to ask whether it is in the public interest that we spend public resources looking at what might be one minor issue, when the bulk of the complaint has been satisfactorily resolved.'
He says, ultimately, his office is a large-scale complaints investigation organisation still looking into as many complaints as it was before the pandemic. ‘I think that reach is very important. I think it's OK to look at the complaints through the public interest test and through a sort of a value for money test.'
Appointed in March, he is one of local government's most experienced operators. A former chief executive of Ealing LBC and Bolton MBC, he has also been Solace's health and social care spokesperson. Why did he go for the interim job? He says: ‘I'm passionate about local government and doing this role kept me connected to the sector. I also think this national role gives you a broader view of things.'
The environment of improvement and regulation the sector is operating in involving the Office for Local Government, the Care Quality Commission – and the Local Government Association's approach to sector-led improvement – is evolving rapidly. He believes his service's relationship with those organisations ‘can add [value] in terms of impact to the Ombudsman, but help those organisations have impact as well'. 
He believes sector-led improvement should apply to the work of the Ombudsman as well, and is commissioning an efficiency review and a peer review of the service, to take place this year. ‘We'll be involving local government stakeholders in that work, to offer some constructive challenge.'
Mr Najsarek is determined to beef up the potential of the service to drive positive change, as shown by the publication of the first joint investigation with the Housing Ombudsman earlier this month. The report found Nottingham City Council and its arm's-length management association, Nottingham City Homes, failed a vulnerable resident over an anti-social behaviour (ASB) complaint. 
This joint work throws a spotlight on the key area of ASB, and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman believes the case shows the benefits of taking a partnership approach with the Housing Ombudsman Service where their jurisdictions overlap.
It seems this is just the start of a new way of doing things. The two Ombudsman Services are currently developing a joint complaint handling code. ‘What we're working on together is a joint code that sets out complaints standards for local government regardless of which service it is, or which part of the local authority it is. We think it's just good practice for us to do that, and we'll be consulting on that later in the year.'
Capacity and resources may be stretched, but he says in these challenging times for local government and their communities ‘I just think it's incredibly important that councils focus on doing the basics really well'. 
He adds: ‘I think complaint management is part of the basics. So I would really encourage councils to make sure they've got good focus on those areas and they've got the necessary capacity to make those improvements happen.'
Taking a strategic, rather than reactive approach is key, and he believes many organisations are already doing that. ‘I think if there's an individual council officer dealing with a complaint and complainant and then has to implement the change, the likelihood is the council will only ever go round that wheel of responding to things and fixing individual problems.
‘Many councils will look at complaints periodically and corporately with their leader, cabinet and senior officers and they'll draw out learning from what they're experiencing locally and what residents are telling them', he concludes.
‘I think that gives the individual local authority the best chance to deal with issues that are cropping up in a strategic way so they don't keep reoccurring and helps them get the maximum improvement from what they get back from their residents.'