About us
PHSO makes final decisions on complaints that have not been resolved by UK government departments and the NHS in England, and some other UK public organisations. This is done independently and impartially.
We are an independent national ombudsman service, holding public bodies to account. PHSO is not part of government, the NHS in England or a regulator. We are neither a consumer champion nor an advocacy service. A free service for everyone, PHSO looks into complaints where an individual or group believes there has been injustice or hardship because an organisation has not acted properly or fairly or has provided a poor service and not put things right.
We normally expect people to complain to the organisation first, so it has a chance to put things right. If an individual believes there is still a dispute about the complaint after an organisation has responded, they can ask PHSO to look into the complaint. We share findings from casework with Parliament to help it hold organisations that provide public services to account, and these findings are shared more widely to help others promote improvements in public services.
PHSO is accountable to Parliament and our work is scrutinised by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
About the role
The Ombudsman is seeking to expand his panel of ‘expert advisors'. The purpose of the panel is to offer the Ombudsman and PHSO expert challenge and support where the Ombudsman identifies this would be useful.
Panel members are appointed on the basis that they have the right mix of skills and experience to provide frank, honest and expert advice and feedback to the Ombudsman and Chief Executive in areas such as:
• The strategic priorities and direction of the organisation, including contributing to individual projects delivering our new Corporate Strategy for 2022-25;
• Improving our service through process review with reference to meta-analysis of complaints about our service;
• Perceptions of PHSO’s service amongst complainants, organisations we investigate and other stakeholders;
• The handling of individual complex complaints;
• Relevant developments across the public and wider sectors that may impact on the work of the Ombudsman.
Particular expertise sought:
As the Ombudsman’s Expert Advisory Panel enters its third year of operation, we are particularly interested in expanding its expertise in governance procedures. We are seeking one candidate with significant senior experience within UK Government departments, including in leading systemic reviews to learn from mistakes and influencing real changes and improvements as a result of listening to the public’s experiences. There is no current intention to recruit additional candidates at this time, though we remain open to expressions of interest for the future.
This role description is not intended to be exclusive or exhaustive. It is an outline indication of the areas of activity and may be amended to reflect the changing needs of the organisation.
How to apply
Please submit your CV and supporting statement by 9am Thursday 17th March 2022.