It is important that providers of public services learn from the complaints they receive. 

Last week (12-14 October) staff at the Office of the Ombudsman held three information webinars for local authorities on ‘Complaints in the Local Authority sector – An Ombudsman’s Perspective’.    

Over 160 officials from all local authorities participated in the webinars. We also spoke about the forthcoming Model Complaints Handling Procedure which we will be rolling out to local authorities  with the assistance of the Local Government Management Agency. A sample of a generic Model Complaints Handling Procedure is available on our website.

En France, plus de 10 millions de personnes vivent en dessous du seuil de pauvreté, dont trois millions d’enfants. La crise sanitaire et les confinements successifs ont amplifié les phénomènes de précarisation, provoquant une aggravation des conditions de vie déjà dégradées pour les familles les plus pauvres et exposant de nouveaux publics à la pauvreté. Ainsi, en 2020, huit millions de personnes ont eu recours aux distributions alimentaires, le nombre de bénéficiaires du revenu de solidarité active (RSA) a augmenté de 7,5%, et des milliers d’étudiants connaissent la précarité et décrochent de leurs études.

A l’occasion de la journée mondiale du refus de la misère, la Défenseure des droits et la Commission nationale consultative des droits de l’homme (CNCDH) rappellent que la situation de pauvreté constitue une des principales entraves dans l’accès aux droits, enferme les personnes concernées dans une stigmatisation et une marginalisation intolérables, et les prive de leur capacité à agir.

Les personnes pauvres davantage fragilisées par la crise sanitaire.

Les personnes pauvres ont été affectées de manière disproportionnée par la pandémie. Dès le début de la crise sanitaire, la Défenseure des droits et la CNCDH ont alerté sur la dégradation de leurs conditions de vie et d’accès aux droits. Elles ont appelé les pouvoirs publics à mettre en œuvre les mesures nécessaires pour pallier les effets négatifs engendrés par la crise sanitaire et par les dispositifs mis en place pour lutter contre la pandémie. Si certaines mesures ont été adoptées, les deux institutions, préoccupées par les difficultés auxquelles sont confrontées les personnes pauvres, jugent urgent d’élaborer une politique globale de lutte contre la pauvreté seule à même de rendre effectifs l’ensemble de leurs droits.

Adopter une approche fondée sur les droits et reconnaître les capacités d’agir des plus pauvres.

Au premier rang des politiques favorisant l’accès aux droits de toutes et tous, l’égal accès à l’ensemble des services publics doit être affirmé comme une priorité dans l’ensemble des champs de l’action publique. Plus globalement, l’approche globale de lutte contre la pauvreté ne sera efficace que si elle se fonde sur les droits, notamment les droits au logement, à l’éducation, à l’accès aux soins et au travail, en respectant les principes de participation et d’autonomisation. Devront être associés, à tous les niveaux, les personnes en situation de pauvreté et d’exclusion sociale et leurs représentants à l’élaboration des politiques, aux processus de décisions et à l’adoption de mesures les concernant. Cette approche doit conduire à se défaire des logiques de simple assistance et à refonder les dispositifs pour permettre la participation et l’autonomisation des personnes concernées.

La pauvreté et l’indignité ne se soulagent pas, elles se combattent par le droit, en faisant respecter les droits. C’est une urgence démocratique. A laquelle il ne sera possible de faire face qu’en associant les personnes concernées, en respectant leur dignité et leur pouvoir d’agir.

Dimanche 17 octobre, journée mondiale du refus de la misère

A l’invitation d’ATD Quart-Monde, Claire Hédon, Défenseure des droits, et Jean-Marie Burguburu, président de la CNCDH, seront aux côtés de nombreuses personnalités sur le parvis des droits de l’homme à Paris, dimanche après-midi 17 octobre.

 Communiqué de presse commun - DDD et CNCDH - 16 octobre

Ombudsman Peter Svetina responded to the invitation of European Parliament Fact-Finding Mission representatives, who conducted interviews in Slovenia with the representatives of national authorities, independent institutions, civil society, various experts and the media to examine the situation regarding the rule of law, freedom of the media and the fight against corruption. Together with Deputy Ombudsman Miha Horvat, they met with the mission’s representatives – seven members of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), one representative from each political group and a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control.

Ombudsman Svetina presented the work and competence of the institution, outlined the main areas of the Ombudsman's activity during the pandemic, when the number of complaints increased by 33%, answered questions related to legislation on foreigners and migrations, and presented its evaluation of the state of the rule of law and the freedom of the media. To the question of the Member of the European Parliament Sophie in 't Veld about the signature of the declaration that the heads of the Information Commissioner, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, the Court of Auditors and the Ombudsman adopted on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Slovenia’s sovereignty and independence, he responded that it was a call towards appropriate communication and respect as well as recognition of the importance of sovereign and independent national authorities in a democratic society, regardless of the time frame. He recalled the pressure from politicians, regardless of their political affiliation, which he had often been subjected to as a result of his decisions, and which was reflected in direct and often coordinated attacks via the media and social networks.

On the (non-)funding of the Slovenian Press Agency, he reiterated his concern about the non-implementation of the existing legislation. In his opinion, the funding procedures should be carried out according to the existing criteria without undue delay and any shortcomings in the current arrangements should be remedied accordingly. "Both public services, Radio-Television Slovenia and the Slovenian Press Agency, demand particular attention and should not be held hostage or preyed upon by the winners of each election," said Svetina.

Regarding the protests, he pointed out that the Ombudsman as an institution has been following them all along through the handling of concrete complaints by the affected individuals. He recalled that in May 2021, he and his colleagues visited the Police Operation and Communication Centre in Ljubljana and carried out an audit of its operation (a report of this was also prepared). With regard to the recent protests (5 October 2021), when the police also used a water cannon and other means of riot control, he said that the Ombudsman immediately started activities to review the actions of the police. "As usual, we also examine all appeals and complaints received within our remit. We understand the concern of citizens, and we assure you that, as always, we will conduct the process independently, in accordance with the Human Rights Ombudsman Act," said the Ombudsman.

As a result of several complaints, Deputy-Ombudsman Maija Sakslin has assessed the delay in the processing of claims for a revised decision of individual customers in the Tax Administration. 

Processing the claims for a revised decision took more than two and a half years

In the Individual Taxation Unit, the complainant's claims for a revised decision were pending for 14 months without active measures. They were also pending at the Assessment Adjustment Board for 9 months before the Adjustment Board returned them for preparation to the Individual Taxation Unit following a report they received. 
As a result, the total processing time of the complainant's claim for a revised decision was pending for more than two years without active measures. Although the Assessment Adjustment Board states that it was waiting for a ruling from the Administrative Court which affected the matter, the Deputy-Ombudsman could not consider it acceptable that in a case that had already been pending for an unreasonably long time, the Adjustment Board only returned the matters to preparation after 9 months.  

The Deputy-Ombudsman noted that the processing of the complainant's claims for a revised decision in the Tax Administration did not fulfil the right to have a case handled properly and without undue delay under the Constitution. Taking into account also the financial significance of the matter to the complainant, the amount added to the complainant's income totalled approximately EUR 430,000, the Deputy-Ombudsman issued a reprimand to the Tax Administration on its unlawful negligence to handle the complainant's claims for a revised decision appropriately and without undue delay.

Multiple long processes 

In the second complaint, the processing of the claim for a revised decision significantly exceeded the 12-month processing time estimate reported by the Tax Administration. When assessing the reprehensibility of the matter, the Deputy-Ombudsman took into account the financial significance of the matter to the complainant. According to the estimate, the matter concerned salary income added to the complainant's income from several years and the fact that the Tax Administration had apologised for the processing time of the complainant's claim for a revised decision. The Deputy-Ombudsman concerning the Tax Administration of her view that the processing time of the claim for a revised decision of more than 20 months did not meet the right under the Constitution for everyone to have their case handled appropriately and without undue delay and was thus unlawful.

In other complaints under evaluation by the Deputy-Ombudsman, the processing times for claims for a revised decision were 19 months, 17 months and 16 months. Even though the processing times of both the Individual Taxation Unit and the Assessment Adjustment Board were less than the 12 months which is the Tax Administration's processing time target, according to the Deputy-Ombudsman, the total processing times of the adjustment requirements were unreasonably long from the perspective of the client. 

According to the Tax Administration, it has already organised more staff to process pending claims for revised decisions and processed the claims for a revised decision in a more efficient manner in order to reduce processing times. In 2021, the Tax Administration's objective is to process the requirements for a revised decision in individual taxation within an average of 250 days of receiving them.

The Deputy-Ombudsman noted that according to the processing time estimate that was updated on the Tax Administration's website on 8 September 2020, the processing time estimate for claims for a revised decision concerning income taxation was 12 months. However, according to processing time estimates that were updated on the website on 19 April 2021 and 3 September 2021, the processing time is 16-18 months.

According to the Deputy-Ombudsman, such a long general processing time for the claims for revised decisions is an issue from the perspective of the proper implementation of the legal protection of tax administration customers. Especially in cases in which an appeal is filed after a claim for adjustment, the appeal phase extends the total processing time of the matter. It is therefore important for the proper observance of legal protection that the claims for adjustment are processed promptly. Deputy-Ombudsman Sakslin brought her opinions to the attention of the Tax Administration.

The full text of Deputy-Ombudsman Maija Sakslin's decisions regarding long processing times at the Tax Administration were published (in Finnish) on the Parliamentary Ombudsman's website at oikeusasiamies.fi: 4973/2020, 8222/2020, 5403/2020, 7429/2020 and 8496/2020.

Further information is available from Principal Legal Advisor Ulla-Maija Lindström, tel. +358 9 432 3355.

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