From January to May 2024, BIHR worked with the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) to support them to embed human rights in their service. This was designed to complement their internal guidance on the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act, with BIHR delivering bespoke capacity-building workshops to increase human rights knowledge and confidence across the service. This programme consisted of a two-part introductory human rights programme for 300 HOS staff members, as well as three additional learning sets where a smaller group were able to deepen their understanding of key human rights relevant in the housing sector, and explore practical ways of embedding a culture of respect of human rights within HOS.
Training for Regulators and Ombudsman Services
The British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) has worked alongside regulators and Ombudsman services to offer human rights support in a wide variety of ways, from delivering training sessions to their staff, to in-depth research with lived experience experts. Find out more about how BIHR can work with regulators and Ombudsman services to help them embed a human rights approach across their work with public services and officials.
Find out about our training for public bodies Send BIHR an enquiry
Why do human rights matter for regulators and Ombudsman services?
Regulators and Ombudsman services can play a crucial role in ensuring that public authorities are meeting their legal duties enshrined within the Human Rights Act. This can be achieved through their continued drive for high quality public services and staff, or by independently investigating complaints where someone’s human rights may have been risked.
To effectively evaluate and uphold human rights in the delivery of public services, regulators and Ombudsman schemes must also feel confident in their knowledge of UK human rights law, of the duties and rights it contains, and in their ability to recognise and address failures to respect, protect and fulfil human rights in practice. Regulators and Ombudsman services can also be considered a public service themselves, with their own Human Rights Act duties to understand and follow in their work.
How can BIHR support regulators and Ombudsman services?
As a leading provider of human rights training and support to organisations providing publicly funded and statutory services, BIHR aims to build the capacity of participants to use and apply human rights law in their work. Our focus is on the rights and duties in the UK Human Rights Act and how these are put into everyday practice, including in relation to other laws and policies.
Our work with the Housing Ombudsman Service
Our work with the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman
In 2023, the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO) commissioned BIHR to research how the Do Not Attempt CPR (DNACPR) process is viewed by people with a learning disability, and to produce recommendations setting out what changes they would like to see. BIHR carried out this important lived experience research by running interactive Easy Read workshops and conducting in-depth interviews with our network of self-led and/or self-advocacy groups and organisations supporting people with a learning disability. The information gathered was used to produce a written report, as well as a series of videos created by participants with their recommendations for the PHSO.
Read more about our lived experience research for the PHSO here.
Training, research, and more
What might BIHR’s support look like for regulators and Ombudsman services?
BIHR strives to create a bespoke offer to the organisation and the people taking part. Examples of what we can offer include:
- Capacity-building workshops for staff working for a regulator or Ombudsman service.
- Know Your Human Rights workshops for people who access, or are trying to access, public services
- Adding a range of expertise (including lived experience) to policy projects
- Co-development of human rights tools and resources.
If you work for a regulator or Ombudsman service and are interested in working with BIHR to embed a human rights-based approach please visit our ‘Training for Public Bodies’ page. This includes a PDF information booklet with estimated costs for a variety of activities, with detailed examples of what this might look like for your organisation.
You can send us a training enquiry through this page, or if you would like more information, please contact BIHR at training@bihr.org.uk.
Related information
Our Impact
Read about how our work helps empower, support and upskill people across the UK to speak up for and protect everyone's human rights.
Our Impact
Read about how our work helps empower, support and upskill people across the UK to speak up for and protect everyone's human rights.
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