The Ombudsman Association is a professional association for ombudsman and complaint handlers, their staff and others interested in the work of independent complaint resolution. An Ombudsman serves the public interest. They help to underpin public confidence in the organisations complained about – by providing members of the public with accessible and effective redress, and by feeding back the lessons from their work in order to help improve service delivery and complaints-management for the future. The Association's membership criteria are: - Independence - Fairness - Effectiveness - Openness and Transparency - Accountability The following principles underpin the Ombudsman Association: - The provision of impartial redress through an ombudsman serves the public interest and is an important part of access to justice. - The success of the ombudsman model depends on: independence, to ensure impartiality; free access for people; informal and flexible processes; active investigation; and effective redress. - Members of the public should have direct and immediate access to the ombudsman if the organisation complained about does not resolve the complaint promptly. - Organisations complained about should be required to signpost to the relevant ombudsman scheme. - Ombudsman decisions should be final and should not be able to be overturned other than by an appeal route provided for by law.