Today we publish our new three-year strategy. Central to this is our vision to become an exemplary Ombudsman service. In developing our new strategic plan, we have received valuable input both from our own staff and a wide range of stakeholders.
Ambitious objectives
Our plan sets out three ambitious but realistic objectives to help us realise our vision. These are:
To improve the quality of our service, while remaining independent, impartial and fair
Our main focus, particularly in the first year of the strategy, is to complete the work we have already started to improve our service. Building public confidence and trust in our service remains our priority.
We will then introduce new ways of working to resolve cases more quickly. This will improve both the quality and timeliness of our decisions, and the overall experience for people making complaints.
As part of this, we are looking to embed early resolution and mediation into our skillset for complaint handling. Our latest podcast with Sarah Barclay of the Medical Mediation Foundation, explores this topic further.
To increase the transparency and impact of our casework
By the end of this three-year period, we will routinely publish our casework so that public services can learn from mistakes.
This includes highlighting where things have gone wrong and what organisations are doing to put them right.
To work in partnership to improve public services, especially frontline complaint handling
Helping to improve public services will be central to what we do. But we cannot succeed on our own. We must work with a range of strategic partners to improve how the public sector responds when things go wrong.
As part of this, we will explore a number of options, from sharing good practice to offering training to complaint handlers.
Our staff and values
Our staff are our main asset. We are investing in their training and development to ensure they are fully supported in delivering their work.
Our staff will also embody our new values of independence, fairness, excellence and transparency, which are set out in our new strategy. These will be at the heart of everything we do, enabling us to become an exemplary Ombudsman.
I encourage you to read our new strategy and share it widely, and look forward to working with complainants, organisations and staff to achieve our vision.
