Complain with confidence
Making a complaint to the Ombudsman

Whatever your complaint is about, you should use the Prison Service or National Probation Service's complaints system first to try and deal with the problem.

	Try and talk to staff on the wing or in your probation office and see if they can sort the matter informally;
	If they can't help, make a formal complaint (this will be to the Chief Officer of the Probation Area if you are making a probation complaint);
	If you are not satisfied with the answer, you can appeal.

If you are still not happy and think that you have been dealt with unfairly, you can complain to the PPO. You must do this within one month of getting a reply to your appeal.

We will not normally investigate a complaint before you have had a reply to your appeal, but if you have not had a response from the Prison Service or Area Probation Board within six weeks, you can complain to us.

To make a complaint to the PPO, you should write to us or fill out an application form - there are different forms for prison and probation complaints. These can be downloaded from this website.

When you send your application to us, we will decide whether we are able to investigate your complaint. We will tell you if you need to pursue your complaint further with the Prison Service or National Probation Service. If appropriate, we will begin an investigation.

A PPO investigator will look carefully at all the facts and will report to an Assistant Ombudsman. They may try to seek a local resolution to your complaint, or write a letter or short report, or they will draft a longer report that will be sent to the Prison Service or National Probation Service for comment. Once we have their comments on this longer report, we will send the draft to you. You will be given the opportunity to comment on the report at this stage. Once everyone has seen the report, the Ombudsman will formally approve it and make recommendations if appropriate. Where the Ombudsman makes recommendations, he will also then follow up and check that these have been acted on.

Every year, the Ombudsman produces a report about his work. A copy of the 2000-2001 Annual Report can be downloaded from this website.

Flow chart showing the history of a complaint to PPO

PPO has now published its policy for dealing with persistent and abusive callers. Persistent and abusive complainants policy