The guidance is effective immediately and applies to complaints which are currently before the Ombudsman as well as new complaints. Non-financial injustice can cover the time and effort spent in having to pursue a complaint and the associated “distress”, such as concern, anxiety, anger, disappointment, embarrassment or loss of expectation and could range from “mild irritation” to anxiety which requires medical treatment.
Awards will fall into one of five categories, each with a corresponding fixed award:
The Ombudsman’s guidance sets out examples of the sorts of factors it will consider in deciding the level of award, for example:
The factsheet published by the Ombudsman sets out examples of how the factors might be applied practically. This document is a reproduction of this.
However, the Ombudsman emphasises that all submissions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. In any event, the awards are not designed to be punitive in nature and are intended as an acknowledgement of the inconvenience or distress they have suffered. Awards falling into the ‘exceptional’ category are therefore expected to be rare.
For advice on dealing with complaints about pensions maladministration or disputes, please contact Doug Mullen.
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has recently made some noteworthy changes to its guidance around data subject access requests (DSARs).
In the fourth part of our series on contract management pitfalls, we look at the risks arising out of varying the terms of construction contracts.
A local authority recently received a "roasting" by the Pensions Ombudsman for their delay in processing an employee’s ill-health retirement pension, following her diagnosis with advanced cancer.
The Times is looking for three or four charities to feature in their editions running in December 2019 and early January 2020.
Cliff Mills defines and talks about the importance of social value in his blog, and its potential within Greater Manchester.
Following a power outage at Anthony Collins Solicitors’ (ACS) Birmingham office, our employees and partners currently have limited functionality, including no access to emails.
Joint ventures present an opportunity for housing associations to build organisational capacity, the revenues from which could help deliver on wider social housing commitments.
Residents are now unable to make applications to prohibit landlords from seeking to recover the cost of legal proceedings through the service charge on behalf of other residents, without consent.
Natalie Barbosa summarises some of the legal challenges facing fundraisers in the charity sector.
We hosted a breakfast roundtable with Insider Midlands magazine that had attendees from a range of organisations addressing housing needs in the Midlands. The discussion explored JVs in more detail.
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