28 Facts About Ann Abraham

Ann Abraham was born on 25 August 1952 and is a public servant who was the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England between 2002 and 2011.

Ann Abraham was born in 1952 and attended Kingsfield Grammar School in Bristol.

Ann Abraham studied at Bedford College, London, graduating in German and philosophy in 1974.

Ann Abraham was a housing manager between 1979 and 1980, first for Tower Hamlets Council and then for Islington Council.

Ann Abraham then joined the Housing Corporation in 1981, serving until 1990 as a regional director and then operations director.

Ann Abraham became the Chief executive of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux in 1991, serving until 1997, when she became the Legal Services Ombudsman.

In 2002, Ann Abraham succeeded Sir Michael Buckley as Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Ann Abraham confronted the Government over several serious acts of maladministration, which led to an unprecedented tabling of reports under s10 Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 in which the Ombudsman reports that injustice caused by maladministration has not is not likely to be remedied.

Ann Abraham finished her term as Ombudsman in December 2011 and was succeeded by Dame Julie Mellor.

Ann Abraham found that the cost of caring for patients with very severe disabilities was left to relatives instead of the National Health Service.

Ann Abraham recommended the department take a strong lead in providing a "very clear, well defined national framework" for determining eligibility.

The backlog of retrospective review cases grew to such an extent that Ann Abraham took the decision in June 2004 to accept cases directly without complainants having to exhaust the NHS complaints procedure.

Once again, Ann Abraham insisted on a national framework for criteria and recommended the development of good practice guidance to support the criteria.

Ann Abraham found that official information provided by the Government was often inaccurate, incomplete and inconsistent; that the response to the actuarial recommendation was maladministration; and a decision to change the minimum funding requirement was done maladministratively.

Ann Abraham made five recommendations, including that the Government consider arranging for the restoration of the pensions benefits.

Ann Abraham welcomed this move as compliance with her key recommendations, although the Government did not acknowledge acceptance of her findings.

In July 2008, Ann Abraham published a report into the regulatory failure of the Government in its oversight of Equitable Life, which verged on collapse in 2000 and left more than a million policyholders with significantly reduced retirement savings.

Ann Abraham found ten instances of maladministration and held that the Government had failed to use the powers available to it to protect the policyholders.

Ann Abraham criticised the Government for failing to verify the solvency of Equitable Life and failing to make sure that the information available to the public was reliable.

Ann Abraham recommended that a compensation scheme be established to put people in the position they would have been in but for the maladministration.

Ann Abraham published a follow-up report in May 2009, Injustice Unremedied, under s10 Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 criticising the Government for rejecting her findings.

Ann Abraham commented that the Government attitude "begged a rather larger question as to what the purpose of regulation was supposed to be".

Ann Abraham followed up the publication of the Principles of Good Administration with the Principles for Remedy in October 2007, announcing that they would help public bodies "to have to hand the tools to put things right themselves".

Ann Abraham investigated complaints made by British groups who had been interned by the Japanese during the Second World War.

Ann Abraham observed the effects of this maladministration: "in such instances, the impact on those concerned, typically those on the very lowest incomes who are the most vulnerable in society, is huge and highly distressing".

Ann Abraham commented that the "harrowing accounts should cause every member of NHS staff who reads this report to pause and ask themselves if any of their patients could suffer in the same way".

Ann Abraham warned that "the NHS must close the gap between the promise of care and compassion outlined in its Constitution and the injustice that many older people experience".

Ann Abraham enjoys walking, gardening and football, being a supporter of Arsenal FC.