Public services cannot improve if people do not believe their voices make a difference.
This week, we launch our strategy for the next five years, shaped by a context of increasing pressure on public services, growing dissatisfaction and more profoundly, declining trust in the state.
In recent months, I have been engaging with MPs, NHS trust leaders, senior officials, and others across public services. These conversations, alongside what we see in our casework, have reinforced both the urgency of these challenges and the need for a collective response. Having been a CEO in large public sector organisations, I understand first-hand the pressures they face.
At the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, we see this in the sharp rise in demand for our services. Last year, we considered more than 38,000 complaints across UK government departments and the NHS in England, and took 9,700 forward for investigation, a 38% increase since 2021-22.
Behind these numbers are lived experiences and valuable insight. Through our casework, we see patterns that are not always visible from within individual organisations. We see where processes break down, where communication fails, and where people feel excluded or unheard. This gives us a unique responsibility: not only to resolve individual complaints, but to ensure public services learn from them. I see it as my duty to use this information to help public services improve and prevent the same issues happening again.
This is where I believe we must go further – into that critical role of rebuilding trust.
Across PHSO I see colleagues deeply committed to fairness and determined that their work improves lives and delivers lasting change. Our investigations are robust, our expertise is strong and our purpose is clear. We are now in a position to make a deliberate shift towards greater systemic and preventative impact, alongside continuing to deliver individual redress.
Our vision is to deliver fair and impartial justice for individuals, while driving improvements in public services for everyone.
In practice, this means identifying risks earlier, supporting organisations to address underlying causes, and strengthening accountability with the help of parliament and others across public services. We will make far greater use of technology to generate consistent, meaningful insight from complaints, focus more strongly on identifying systemic issues, and deepen collaboration with regulators, assurance bodies, and others across the system. No single organisation can address these challenges alone.
We will also modernise our own service, so that people have access to clearer information, receive faster decisions, and experience a genuinely person‑centred process.
Our role in supporting parliamentary scrutiny is critical. As an ombudsman accountable to parliament, we are in a strong position to provide independent evidence – grounded in the voice of the citizen about how public services are performing and where they must improve. Working closely with MPs and select committees is one of the most important ways we can drive accountability and change.
We will also create a clearer, more recognisable identity to reflect our vision, including changing our name from late 2026 to the Public Service Ombudsman. This change will better reflect our remit across central government and help ensure people understand the full scope of our role.
For too long, complaints have been treated primarily as isolated issues to be resolved, rather than opportunities to learn and improve. Complaints should be seen as an early warning system, helping identify risks, prevent harm, and address root causes before problems escalate.
In short, the insights we draw from complaints bring the voice of our customers into what we do. The cost of not learning is significant. Statutory inquiries exceeded £130m last year, and the NHS spent billions addressing harm that could and should have been prevented. We must use that insight to prevent failings, not just respond to them.
Public services are under immense pressure, and trust between the citizen and the state is fragile. Mistakes will happen. How those mistakes are addressed, and whether organisations are willing and able to learn from them is crucial.
If we listen carefully, act on what we hear, and work together across the system, complaints can become a powerful driver of improvement. That is how we begin to rebuild trust in the services people rely on every day.
Paula Sussex is the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman