Joanne McGurk
Solicitor
Head of Legal and Investigations

Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People
Equality House, 7-9 Shaftesbury Square, Belfast, BT2 7DP
Phone number: 028 90 311616

Subject: Request for Compliance with NIPSO’s Legislative Obligations

Dear Ms. McGurk,

Thank you for your recent correspondence. However, I wish to formally express my concern regarding your office’s interpretation of NIPSO’s remit in relation to my case. It seems that certain obligations under the Public Services Ombudsman Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 are being overlooked, which require your immediate attention.

Obligations Under NIPSO’s Remit

While you have cited legislative restrictions in your refusal to engage further with my complaint, I would like to remind you that NIPSO is obligated to investigate complaints of maladministration or service failure by public bodies. This includes, but is not limited to, the conduct of the Health and Social Care Trusts, which have been the focus of my complaints. These bodies are bound by statutory duties under the Children (Northern Ireland) Order and other relevant legislation, and NIPSO’s role is to ensure that they are held accountable for any failures to adhere to these obligations.

It is important to emphasize that NIPSO has a responsibility to ensure public bodies, including health and social care providers, act in a manner that is fair, transparent, and lawful. Maladministration is not limited to court decisions but includes a range of administrative errors, delays, failures to follow proper procedures, and neglect of statutory duties by public bodies.

Failure to Address Complaints Against Public Bodies

The concerns I have raised are not solely about court proceedings but relate to the actions (or inaction) of public bodies in Northern Ireland. As outlined in the Public Services Ombudsman Act, NIPSO is specifically empowered to investigate such complaints, even where other statutory complaint mechanisms exist, provided those mechanisms are inadequate or have been exhausted without resolution. The failure of the Health and Social Care Trust to act in accordance with statutory obligations is at the heart of my complaint, and it is within NIPSO’s scope to investigate.

Request for Reconsideration

I respectfully request that you reconsider your position in light of NIPSO’s duties under the 2016 Act and relevant regulations. Your office is required to ensure that public service failures are investigated properly, particularly where vulnerable individuals, including children, are affected. Refusing to address my complaint risks undermining the core purpose of NIPSO: to hold public services accountable for failures in their duty of care.

Please provide a detailed explanation of how my complaint against the public bodies, particularly the Health and Social Care Trust, is deemed to fall outside of NIPSO’s remit. Should this explanation be unsatisfactory, I will be compelled to escalate the matter further.

I await your prompt response.

Yours sincerely,

Kind Regards
Mr. Martin Newbold

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