Introduction
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Until 31 March 2011, the Planning Inspectorate operated an ex gratia payment scheme. In certain circumstances they made payments to complainants, following an error. The payments could cover almost any area of the Planning Inspectorate’s work, including the situations described in this report.
In 2010 the Planning Inspectorate were required to reduce their spending by 35 per cent by 2014-15. That meant finding headline savings of around £9 million per year. The Planning Inspectorate’s management board identified the removal of the ex gratia payment scheme, which then had an annual budget of £250,000, as a way to save money. They decided to close the scheme and said that in future they would only make payments in exceptional circumstances, such as where the Ombudsman felt that a consolatory payment for hurt feelings, inconvenience or stress was necessary. They estimated that this would cost around £25,000 a year.
This report describes how that decision affected four complainants.
