Private Ombudsmen and Public Law

Ombudsman schemes are an increasingly important redress mechanism for people with complaints against those large financial and other organisations which have a pervasive influence on the lives of most of us. This book describes and evaluates in detail six of these key ombudsman schemes: those which cover insurance, banking, building societies, corporate estate agents and the pensions and personal investment sectors and which between them represent the different structural features inherent in the UK private ombudsman system.The author argues that these schemes properly come within the scope of public law since they perform an important constitutional role as alternatives to the courts and provide redress for individuals in circumstances where there is an imbalance of power between the parties. In evaluating their operation the author considers the institutional structures and the issue of the regulation of ombudsmen and proposes some reforms to strengthen their perceived independence and accountability.