Trust and transparency and the ombuds: Justice behind closed doors?

Abstract

In this chapter I bring together two presentations given by me at separate conferences. The first was entitled 'Consumer ADR/ODR: Justice Behind Closed Doors?' and the second 'Trust: transparency, information, governance, digitisation, vulnerability'. I explain that ADR cannot be used as a blanket term and while arbitration and mediation, for example, can be seen as examples of ADR where the processes and decisions are private and therefore justice is indeed delivered behind closed doors, ombudsman or ombuds schemes have openness and accessibility as fundamental principles. The consumer ombuds model has four parts: giving advice and support to consumers who have complaints; resolving disputes and publishing outcomes; feeding back to traders and supporting improvement; reporting to stakeholders, including regulators and governments, and influencing policy. Trust is built through experience and knowledge. Personal experience of an ombuds is limited and so openness about the service, easy and appropriate access, and clarity over governance and accountability are critical pathways to building awareness and trust. In linking the two papers I argue that the ombuds model of ADR is essentially transparent and that this transparency is key to building trust.