Edition 9 - Winter 2020

Date of article: 31/01/2020

Daily News of: 03/02/2020

Country:  United Kingdom - England

Author: Local Government Ombudsmen for England

Article language: en

Edition 9 - Winter 2020

Welcome

Welcome to the latest edition of News from the Ombudsman.

In this edition, you can read about the advice and guidance we are offering to councils on issues as wide ranging as housing benefit payments, the Armed Forces Covenant and working with bailiffs.

You can also read about the way we use the information we gather from our investigations to inform other organisations' work.

We hope you enjoy reading our newsletter. If you'd like to hear more about the work we do, why not follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn?

Housing benefits report issued

Woman and baby applying for benefits

Families are facing the very real prospect of becoming homeless because of the way some authorities are dealing with housing benefit claims appeals, we have warned in our recent special report.

Despite being gradually replaced by Universal Credit, housing benefit is still paid to some 3.6 million of England’s poorest and most vulnerable people who rely on it to help with living costs. When councils get things wrong this only adds to the pressure these families face.

Our report looks at the lessons to be learnt from the cases we have investigated and recommends actions councils and local councillors can take to make to make sure they do not make the same mistakes.

Read more


Independent care providers brought to book

Older man in care home room

We have had the power to investigate complaints about independent are providers for more than 10 years.

If we find a care provider at fault, and they do not agree to our recommendations to put things right, we will publish a report (called an Adverse Findings Notice) about our investigation.

It's incredibly rare that we have to go to such lengths, as most care providers agree to our recommendations, but over the past few months we have issued two such notices against homes in Kent and Yorkshire.

In the first case, we heavily criticised Kent care provider, Foxley Lodge Care Ltd, after it suddenly raised its fees – and then threatened to evict a vulnerable resident if her family did not pay.

The company failed to respond to our investigation so we published a public notice and issued a media release.

In the second case, Burlington Care Ltd refused our recommendation to refund the full cost of a woman's care, after our investigation - and that of its local council - found care workers had verbally abused and neglected a woman while in its care. The company instead offered to refund just one week's stay.

It was not until the afternoon before we were due to speak to BBC Radio 4 about the case that the company agreed to refund the full amount.

We have shared our findings about both care providers with care regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

 


Helping councils to help you

Alan Park

This February and March we will be hosting our Link Officer Seminars, where we meet representatives from local authorities who provide a link between us and the authority. The seminars are an opportunity for us to deliver important messages but also highlight our learning.

This year’s seminars will focus on empowering local authorities to highlight the learning from complaints, both to those within the local authority and those providing services on the authority’s behalf. We want to make sure our decisions are scrutinised by those within the local authority who can make a difference and ensure that, if something has gone wrong, it doesn’t happen again.


Armed Forces Covenant guidance issued to councils

Poppies

On Armistice Day, we issued new guidance for councils providing services for current and former armed forces personnel.

The document aims to help councils in England meet their commitments to the Armed Forces Covenant, which is an agreement between the people of the United Kingdom, the Government and all those who serve or have served in the armed forces and their families.

The covenant pledges that servicemen and women, and their families, will not be disadvantaged by their roles compared to others, when applying for council services.

The guidance highlights a number of key learning points from real cases we have investigated.

Read more


Talking to the bailiffs

Andrew Hobley at CIVEA conference 2019

Andrew Hobley, one of our Assistant Ombudsmen, has spoken to bailiff organisations at two conferences. He addressed the bailiff firms' trade body, CIVEA, looking at the impact of the 2014 reforms to how bailiffs can recover debts at its conference in the autumn.Andrew also spoke about our role as an independent complaint body and the importance of bailiff firms managing complaints well.

At the end of October, he also spoke to the LACEF (Local Authority Civil Enforcement Forum) Conference, giving an audience of local authority officers examples of how bailiffs had failed to follow the new law. Both presentations were well received and made clear our central role in dealing with complaints about local authority bailiffs.


Our contributions

Information sharing

Over the past few months, we have responded to several consultations and inquiries relevant to our work and the ombudsman sector.

These include the Department for Transport draft statutory guidance on home to school travel and transport, and the Government of Jersey’s consultation on a new Public Services Ombudsman for Jersey. You can read our responses on our website.

Read more


Opening ourselves up to scrutiny

Contract agreement

We take any complaints about the service we have given seriously, and look to resolve them as soon as possible.

We pride ourselves in giving a high standard of service, and responding to concerns thoroughly and fairly. But we are also committed to being transparent and learning from any mistakes we make.

This is why we have an External Reviewer. Someone totally independent, on a regular basis, looks at a sample of our cases in which we’ve dealt with a complaint about our service. Their job is to assess how we responded, and if necessary make recommendations to our board on how to improve things.

Our current External Reviewer has come to the end of his term, and we are currently looking to recruit someone new.

If you fancy the challenge, take a look at our vacancy – closing on 1 March.


Other news you may have missed


Read more

Perfiles del maltrato, por el psiquiatra Luis Ferrer Balsevre

Date of article: 31/01/2020

Daily News of: 31/01/2020

Country:  Spain - Galicia

Author: Regional Ombudsman of Galicia

Article language: es

Más de la mitad de las muertes violentas de mujeres ocurren a manos de sus parejas y por cada una de ellas se registran, al menos, otros 20 casos  que precisan atención médica o psicológica.

La violencia es una de las principales causas de muerte en la población comprendida entre los 15 y 44 años y la responsable del 7% de fallecimientos en la población femenina.

El maltrato a las mujeres por parte de sus parejas masculinas aparece en todos los países y culturas, en todos los niveles educativos y socioeconómicos.

La primera agresión aparece aproximadamente a los dos años y medio del comienzo de la relación.

Ante estos datos apremia la necesidad de detectar  rasgos o perfiles que  puedan identificar y prevenirse de un maltratador, pero no existen marcadores físicos, psíquicos ni biológicos capaces de detectar  a ciencia cierta a la mayoría de ellos. No existen en la medida en que cualquiera puede ser potencialmente un maltratador o un asesino, el ser humano es algo que nunca acaba de hacerse bien. Partiendo de esta base intentaremos pergeñar unas cuantas notas al respecto.

La Historia de la Humanidad es la sustitución de la violencia por el poder, o dicho de otra forma, la sustitución de la fuerza por el derecho, sin embargo,  hay muchos hombres que ante la igualdad de derechos lograda  por la mujer sienten amenazada su posición de poder en la relación y recurren a la violencia para reafirmarlo sometiéndola.

También hay hombres cuya relación con el deseo sexual es tan problemática que sólo mediante una maniobra violenta pueden recuperarlo,  serían sujetos sádicos en los que el deseo sexual sólo aparece o reaparece después del acto agresivo que coloca al borde de la desaparición a la pareja o lo que es lo mismo, la reduce a una condición de objeto. Cuanto más se machaca la autoestima del otro, mayor control se ejerce. Estos  hombres NO son perversos, actúan violentamente pero no al punto de la desaparición del otro. Los perversos, en cambio, si lo hacen porque no hay temor ante su propia desaparición, éstos son los que tan frecuentemente pasan de la  Agresión al posterior suicidio.

Binomio este agresión/suicidio que sobre una estructura perversa capaz de pasar al acto asesino, muestra  una gran dependencia emocional hacia su víctima  ya que la mayoría de los suicidios posteriores al asesinato se ejecutan en clave de un sentimiento de pérdida insoportable y no de culpa.

Aunque no existan indicadores objetivos capaces de identificar al maltratador, si disponemos de algunos rasgos que, cuando menos, deberían tenerse en cuenta:

Son individuos que frecuentemente han visto y/o padecido la violencia en sus familias de origen, tienen dificultad para reconocer y expresar los propios sentimientos y los de los demás (baja o nula empatía), creen en la violencia como una forma aceptable de solucionar conflictos interpersonales, suelen minimizar, negar las agresiones o tener un recuerdo distorsionado de las mismas; justifican su violencia en base al comportamiento de su pareja a la que responsabilizan de la agresión que ellos cometen; la agresión cumple la finalidad de controlar, intimidar o someter a la pareja mediante el uso o la amenaza de la agresión física con el fin de tener todo el poder en la relación.

 

Jacobson & Gottman, describen dos perfiles básicos de hombre maltratador:

 

  • Tipo Cobra: similares al delincuente común, tiene una personalidad criminal que se manifiesta en conductas antisociales. Son individuos impulsivos y hedonistas con baja tolerancia a la frustración. Es frecuente que abusen del alcohol y las drogas. Pegan a sus mujeres y abusan emocionalmente de ellas para impedir que interfieran en la consecución de sus deseos. Sienten que tienen derecho a hacer lo que hacen y a obtener lo que desean del modo que estimen conveniente. Algunos son psicópatas, carecen de conciencia y son incapaces de sentir remordimientos. Son incapaces de construir relaciones íntimas auténticas. Sus compromisos son superficiales y su intimidad es mínima, llegando a ser peligrosos si sus mujeres tratan de obtener más de ellos. Suelen presentar historias familiares caóticas y muchos fueron abusados ellos mismos. No parecen tener motivos para cambiar su conducta, y no cabe esperar que busquen ayuda terapéutica de forma espontánea.
  • Tipo PITBULL: NO suelen tener una historia delictiva, sino que ejercen la violencia en el hogar. Con frecuencia sus padres han sido violentos con sus madres y aprendieron que la violencia es una forma legítima de tratar a la mujer. Son muy dependientes de sus mujeres y sienten temor a ser abandonados, lo cual desencadena ataques de celos a veces con tintes paranoides, y esto les obliga a controlar al límite la independencia de sus parejas. Aunque en cierta medida son menos violentos que los cobra, pueden llegar a cometer agresiones graves e incluso asesinatos.

 

Estas distinciones son útiles a la hora de asesorar a las víctimas respecto a las medidas que deben tomar en el momento en que deciden abandonar al agresor, mientras los cobra pueden ser mas peligrosos en el momento de la separación, a largo plazo el más peligroso es el pitbull porque puede seguir acosando a su víctima durante mucho tiempo.

 

El hombre maltratador es producto de una historia familiar, social y personal  muy difícil de reescribir en la medida en que estas variables distan mucho de poderse controlar, siempre hubo, hay y es de esperar que siga habiendo maltratadores.

La prevención del maltrato compete a toda la sociedad.

Read more

The Court of Justice of the European Union lacks jurisdiction to rule on a border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia, but those two Member States arerequired, under Article4(3) TEU, to strive sincerely to bring about a definitive legal solution to the dispute consistent with international law

Date of article: 31/01/2020

Daily News of: 31/01/2020

Country:  EUROPE

Author: Court of Justice of the European Union

Article language: en

Link: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2020-01/cp200009en.pdf

Also available in the following languages:  en fr hr sl

RELEASE No 9/20

Judgment in Case C-457/18

Slovenia v Croatia

The Court of Justice of the European Union lacks jurisdiction to rule on a border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia, but those two Member States arerequired, under Article4(3) TEU, to strive sincerely to bring about a definitive legal solution to the dispute consistent with international law

 

Read more