31.3% of 2018 complaints relate to social policy

The Catalan ombudsman, Rafael Ribó, has just presented the report on 2018 ombudsman activity at the Catalan parliament. The report notes increases (in relation to 2017) in the number of complaints about social policy, which last year made up 31.3% of the complaints received by the Catalan ombudsman (in 2017 they made up 28.2% of the total number of complaints).

However, the greatest difference with respect to previous years is observed in complaints about public administration and taxes, which have increased from 19.5% of all complaints in 2017 to 27.8% in 2018.

Ribó also underlined the fact that never before have so many complaints involved individuals with multiple problems in relation to social policy. For this reason, Ribó demanded an increase in political consensus in order to deal with social problems and social inequalities.

The Catalan ombudsman also took the opportunity to call attention to the need for public housing stock, as well as to report months of oversaturation for the emergency services, and SAREB’s unwillingness to help resolve people’s difficulties in accessing affordable housing and “the excessive delay in the allocation of a home after a favourable evaluation from the ombudsman”.