Complaints about poor service

The role of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is to investigate complaints that individuals have been treated unfairly or have received poor service from government departments and other public organisations, and from the NHS in England. This includes the Home Office.

If a person is not satisfied with the way in which a complaint to the Home Office has been dealt with, or if no response has been received, that person can ask his or her Member of Parliament (MP) to refer the complaint to the Ombudsman. The complaint must be sent by the person's MP: the Ombudsman's website has a form to complete and send to the MP.

The complaint should be made within one year of the person becoming aware of the cause for complaint, unless there are good reasons for delay.