Your role in referring complaints to us
We can only consider complaints about UK government services if an MP asks us to. Complaints about the NHS in England can come to us directly or through an MP.
If your constituent’s complaint is linked to their experience as a victim, they can come to us directly. Find out more on complaints about the Victim’s Code.
Checks to make before referring a complaint to us
There are four main checks that will help you advise your constituents on next steps.
- Has your constituent completed the organisation’s internal complaints process?
People can ask us to look into their complaint if they’re unhappy with the organisation’s final response. We may get involved earlier if an organisation is clearly not making progress with the complaint within a reasonable time.
- Is the complaint being brought to us in time?
There are legal time limits for bringing a complaint to us. Generally, we only consider complaints that someone has brought to you within 12 months of when they became aware of the problem. If a complaint is outside the time limit, we are not usually able to investigate it. But there is some flexibility and in some circumstances we may still be able to help.
- Is the complaint about an organisation we can investigate?
We can only consider complaints where we have been given the ability to do so by Parliament.
Find out more about what we can and cannot help with.
- Is the complaint form completed?
If necessary, help your constituent to fill in our complaint form. You then need to add your details and sign the form before sending it to us by email to mp@ombudsman.org.uk or post to Public Service Ombudsman, Citygate, 51 Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3HQ.
