This petition has come about from my speaking with other clients who allege they have suffered with imbalanced Council decisions. They have been unable to obtain real help and there is no body set up to control ‘rogue’ Councils. I understand that a mental health clinic alleges increased patient numbers due to Council activity. This matter is not an easy one to address as all the parties addressed in this petition do not wish to upset their apple cart, but justice must be done and seen to be done for all and currently, in my opinion, this is not currently happening with all the power on the side of the council s. Even through my experience with dealing with a Council I can show you dictatorial policies and Ombudsman decisions which are simply beyond understanding. Experience gained spanning some of twenty years of, in my opinion, fighting with the council.
COSLA is simply a meeting place for Council employees determining disregards which can be ignored with impunity. They have no point and public money should not be funding them. Disregards should be such that ALL Councils MUST use them, a pick and mix policy is pointless.
I am calling for the remit of the Ombudsman to be reviewed and re-written there is no appeal against their decisions, they, in my opinion, manipulate their success rate i.e. I understand they take their successful complaints as a percentage of the complaints they deem they wish to investigate and not as a percentage of all the complaints they receive.
I wish Councils to operate in a more open and less dictational fashion. I wish to remove the postcode element as there can be a monthly charge difference of £100 for the same charge involving the same client profile. I wish, in my opinion, the bully boy environment removed and for the Council/client playing field to be made level. The public have little or no resource against Council decisions whether they are fair or not. E.G. The day-care charges for disabled people, have been reviewed and Councils in Scotland are generally looking at 0%-3.1% increase whereas one Council has increased the charge by 500% it is a case of pay up and shut up as there is no port of call that can actually help. There requires being an instrument to make a council change, possibly within the new remit of the Ombudsman. There requires, unlike the ombudsman, an authorised body to interject during Council/client conflict and not wait until the client has been wrongly charged. The ombudsman only interjects after the ambulance has gone.