We are pleased to publish our 2014-15 annual report today. 

It charts another year of achievement for the SPSO. We handled a record number of complaints about public services, and further improved our productivity and the quality of our service.  We helped almost 5,600 people, providing independent advice and support and looking into the issues people brought us where we could. Our investigations led to over 1,400 recommendations for improvement to public services.

We highlight the year-on-year increase in demand for our service, which comes at a time when we have been asked to take on new functions in relation to reviewing Scottish Welfare Funds decisions (from April 2016) and complaints arrangements under the Scottish Government’s health and social care integration programme.  We have long supported the simplification agenda and we welcome these expansions, so long as they can be appropriately funded.  There are practical challenges for us in these changes, which require careful consideration.  Our measures for managing demand - current and future - are laid out in our draft 2016-20 strategic plan, which went out for consultation earlier this month.

The annual report also highlights our work on improving complaints handling across Scotland, which has continued to have considerable success and a resonance outside Scotland, with our reputation and influence further increasing in other parts of the UK and internationally. As a result of our ground-breaking work, there is now a simple, consistent system for handling complaints across most public services in Scotland.  Public authorities are also now reporting more consistently and regularly on their complaints, and this is helping to not only improve transparency but to drive up standards.

Download the SPSO Annual Report 2014-15 (PDF, 528KB)