Failures in the Alternative Dispute Resolution sector
Update 28/02/2018 See a new report More Ombudsman Omnishambles 20 months on with more revelations including a summary of the Ombudsman Omnishambles report.
A new report, released today by consumer campaigners Marcus Williamson and Helen Dewdney, exposes serious failings in the processes by which new ombudsmen are approved and overseen.
Since 1 October 2015 a new privatised system of ombudsmen is available for consumer complaints in areas such as retail and aviation. Consumers expect an ombudsman to be independent, open & transparent and to abide by the rules of its trade body.
However, the organisations responsible for appointing and overseeing the ombudsmen appear to be taking a “light touch” approach to the new privatised ombudsman sector.
Among the findings of the Ombudsman Omnishambles report:
* The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) does not carry out basic “fit and proper” person tests before approving ombudsmen, their staff and contractors.
* One ombudsman has a convicted criminal as its “Director of Communications”.
* The same ombudsman is not abiding by Ombudsman Association rules on independence or on openness & transparency. In particular, the company is running an “accredited retailer” programme in parallel with having the ombudsman role and refuses to provide a list of the retailers which are its members.
Yet, despite these serious issues, there has been no action taken so far by the CTSI, Ombudsman Association (OA) or Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The report is being submitted to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as part of a current call for evidence which closes on 23 June. The submission and publication of the report coincides with this week’s CTSI conference and includes responses from the CTSI, OA, CAA and Carter-Ruck.
Marcus Williamson, Editor of the consumer information website CEOemail.com, says:
“We recommend that the Ombudsman Association, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and the Civil Aviation Authority must now take urgent action to examine and resolve the issues outlined in this report, before the ombudsman system is brought into disrepute.“
20/10/2016 The Ombudsman Omnishambles continues… Even on Conflict Resolution Day…
02/11/16 Ongoing Ombudsman Omnishambles
06/07/17 The Retail Ombudsman is no more
More failures in ADR
01 November 2017. Rail Ombudsman is finally coming down the tracks – consultation closing soon. This new scheme was given little to no media coverage and this article outlines the importance of the new ombudsman.
28 February 2018. Government & regulators continue to fail consumers. This article outlined the follow up report “More Ombudsman Omnishambles – 20 months on“. This was a follow up to Ombudsman Omnishambles detailed above.
23 April 2018. Landing in court with Ryanair (what you need to know!) This article covers the issues with CAA and ADR and Ryanair. It covers the legal action and how consumers can give reasons for not using AviationADR prior to going to court.
05 August 2018. Got the Ryanair blues? This is how to claim compensation. This is my article for The Financial Times regarding claiming refunds from Ryanair. It also refers to the Which? article criticising AviationADR.
15 November 2018. Presentation on ADR at the Westminster Business Forum. I outlined all the issues with monitoring and oversight of the sector. It covered the risks for both businesses and consumers if unsuitable providers are allowed to continue. I regularly get asked to speak on consumer rights, complaints, customer service and ADR issues. More information about speaking engagements and events can be found on the speaking page.
How approval bodies are failing to properly approve and monitor Alternative Dispute Resolution -
25 November 2018. 5 Ombudsman myths busted. An article explaining common consumer, (and sometimes those who work in the consumer space!) misconceptions regarding ADR.
30 January 2020. Ombudsman systems needs urgent shake-up says APPG. MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) funded an APPG Inquiry. The report built on much research into the Alternative Dispute Resolution sector. It made several recommendations previously called for by MSE, Citizens Advice Bureau and consumer campaigners Marcus Williamson of CEOemail.com and myself.
CAA and ADR failures
31 July 2020. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) gets new Chairman. This article is a criticism of the decision to recruit a Chairman with no experience in customer-facing environments, no experience in the commercial aviation sector and no background in consumer law. This was in the middle of a pandemic where consumers were being failed by airlines.
07 October 2020. International Ombuds Day – what does the Ombudsman do? – Explanation of an Ombudsman.
07 October 2020 CAA launches consultation and tells no-one… – I break the story that the CAA launches a consultation and doesn’t tell stakeholders.
22 October 2020. Ryanair tops the CAA refund complaints figures. FOI response shows how poor Ryanair is and how CAA and ADR is failing consumers.
16 December 2020. The CMA steps in where the CAA fears to tread. This article describes how the CMA has stepped in to undertake the CAA’s work.
18 March 2021. Civil Aviation Authority consults on dispute resolution. The consultation responses where consumer groups call for a single ombudsman in the sector. There is much criticism of the CAA and the whole process.
22 August 2023 Who owns AviationADR? EasyJet and Ryanair complaints scheme denies Russian connection Which? investigation in CDRL’s (AviationADR is part of the company) finances.
Ex CTSI CEO reveals opinions on ADR
18 June 2021. Leon Livermore former CTSI CEO talks to Helen Dewdney Part 2. Leon Livermore was the CEO of the CTSI for almost 8 years, until March 2021.
The CTSI was heavily criticised in the OO and MOO reports. In this part of the interview we spoke about ADR. He agreed that the Ombudsman Association’s standards were higher than CTSI. He also agreed that there should be a fit and proper person test and that ADR should be mandatory.
See link for more and the Zoom interviews.
ADR consultations
30 September 2021. These are my responses to ADR: A Government consultation which provides ADR related details of the Government’s consumer paper for a consultation ending 1 October 2021. It was entitled Reforming Competition and Consumer Policy. ADR falls within the section of Consumer Law Enforcement.
31 January 2022. Passenger treatment to be fairer under Government proposals. Government launches consultation to changes to compensation, ADR and services for disabled passengers.
20 April 2022 Reforming competition and consumer policy: government response.
Further help with ADR
How Alternative Dispute Resolution can help with complaints.
Video for Your Money 31 July 2022
How Alternative Dispute Resolution can help with your complaint
Help with complaints
Get help with complaining effectively and making sure you are never fobbed off.
How To Complain: The ESSENTIAL Consumer Guide to Getting REFUNDS, Redress and RESULTS!
101 Habits of an Effective Complainer to help you become more skilled and assertive at complaining. (See Rob Rinder’s review amongst others!)
Purchase downloadable templates to gain redress.
The Ombudsman Omnishambles Report
The report “Ombudsman Omnishambles – Serious unresolved issues affecting the operation of the ombudsman ADR system in the UK” is available to download here:
http://CEOemail.com/ombudsman-omnishambles.pdf
February 2018 New report More Ombudsman Omnishambles 20 months on
Westminster Business Forum seminar Next steps for consumer protection in the UK – dispute processes, enforcement and the consumer markets green paper. 15/11/18
Presentation. Alternative Dispute Resolution – approval and oversight in the loosest possible sense of the words…
How approval bodies are failing to properly approve and monitor Alternative Dispute Resolution -
Further articles, investigations and commentary on ADR and ombudsman issues can be found in the main ADR and Ombudsman investigations timeline.
5 Comments. Leave new
It was once a requirement for membership to the Ombudsman Association for ombudsman schemes to have a whistleblowing policy. Ombudsman Services do not have a whistleblowing policy and now that its CEO and Chief Ombudsman is Chair of the Ombudsman Association the requirement for members to have a whistleblowing policy has been dropped.
That means that the right of all those workers in such schemes to freedom of expression has been arbitrarily ended.
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights defends that right to freedom of expression and is fully supported by Emily O’Reilly the European Ombudsman. She has said, “The public needs to know that the EU institutions welcome whistleblowers and protect whistleblowers.”
Not Here.
Contrast that with the situation here where private redress is left in the hands of increasingly unaccountable ombudsmen who without consultation deny their workers the right to speak up when they see serious irregularities or misconduct.
There is a petition which you might wish to sign – http://www.whistleblowerprotection.eu to show solidarity with those fighting to keep the right to free speech.
Steve Gilbert – The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign.
The Chief Ombudsman from OS resigned from position of Chair of the OA in May of last year. However, I agree wholeheartedly with your comment “private redress is left in the hands of increasingly unaccountable ombudsmen”
I agree that there are some serious flaws in the way that the ombudsman service works. I was a student in my final year and the university I was attended discriminated against me and so I made a complaint to the OIA (Office of independent Ajudicator ). At the time I did not have all the evidence, therefore my case was not upheld. A few years later when I got the evidence to prove that the university was at fault. To my surprise, the OIA favoured the false representation made by the university and decided to stand by them. I was appalled and could not believe what just happened. Students who brings their complaints to such organisation are looking for justice or at least expect the organisation to be independent from the university’s complaint system. Unfortunately this is further from the truth. I would say anyone looking for justice and you have all your evidence go down the court route. If anything you can be assure of is that the Judge won’t know anyone from your university.
I fully agree that BIS has let down the public in failing properly to implement this legislation. In the past month I have presented evidence before the Westminster Legal Policy Forum, The 15th International Forum on Online Dispute Resolution in The Hague ,The World Mediation Summit in Madrid and, later this week, at a consumer redress conference at Humboldt University in Berlin of significant failures being:-
* Breach by 30 out of 35 major High St names of the requirement to include on their websites an ‘easily accessible’ hyperlink to the EC’s ODR platform.
* the 5 who had the link breached the law by burying it deep inside Terms and Conditions.
* CTSI have approved bodies who breach the Directive by requiring, in some cases, personal attendance of the parties in order to resolve a dispute.
More detail on my blog at http://www.themediationroom.com
As an ADR Provider referenced in this report I wholeheartedly support the release of this. The ADR landscape is in a complete mess, confusing and misleading for consumers and businesses. The implementation of the EU ADR Directive is at odds with MoJ and plans for the Online Court and promotion of mediation.
I have spoken at the Houses of Parliament on this and have consistently raised concerns but thus far there have been no positive changes.
I will be very interested in the response from BIS.
As a small ADR Provider delivering a professional much needed service I am afraid that the fees charged may well mean we seriously consider renewing our certification.