One of the Ombudsman institution’s most important tasks is to be present and accessible to the most vulnerable citizens in society – those that for various reasons have difficulty taking care of their own interests.
This is what the new Parliamentary Ombudsman, Christian Britten Lundblad, writes in the preface of his Annual Report, which has just been published in English – the first in his period in office.
The Ombudsman says that, for the same reason, he attaches great importance to the institution’s monitoring activities. Or as he himself puts it: ‘(…) our monitoring visits allow us to get out in the field and in direct dialogue with citizens who often find themselves in difficult and stressful situations. These may be children and young people placed outside the home in institutions, prison inmates, remand prisoners or patients in departments of forensic psychiatry.’
The Ombudsman also wishes to visit all of Denmark’s municipalities and citizen advisors in order to reach out to those parts of society as well. In 2025, he visited 10 municipalities, and he expects to visit 20 municipalities in each of the coming years.
The new Ombudsman also writes about the organisational and strategic changes that have been initiated at the institution. Among other things, Christian Britten Lundblad writes about the mission for the Ombudsman institution, which is described like so:
‘With the Constitutional Act as a starting point, the Parliamentary Ombudsman safeguards legal rights and a democratic society based on the rule of law. By ensuring that the administrative authorities act in accordance with the law and follow good administrative behaviour, we protect the citizens’ rights in their encounters with the authorities.’
When municipalities are disqualified
The Annual Report includes an article about administrative disqualification in the municipalities. It is an issue that may arise if a municipality itself has an interest in the outcome of a case it is processing. It may be for example if a municipality is both the developer and the authority granting building permissions. Or if a municipality needs dispensation from rules that the municipality itself administers, for instance in the fields of environment and planning.
It is not intrinsically wrong or reproachable that situations may arise where a municipality is disqualified. However, it is important that the municipality is aware that it is disqualified and considers what to do in that connection. Normally, an authority that is disqualified will have to transfer the case to another authority by so-called substitution. However, municipalities do not generally have the possibility of transferring a case from one municipal council to another (with a different voter base etc.).
The article mentions different situations that can result in disqualification and the ways that the municipalities can deal with them.
Highest number of complaints
The Annual Report also mentions some of the cases that the Ombudsman dealt with in 2025, and it contains statistical information about the Ombudsman’s work.
It appears from the Annual Report that the Ombudsman last year received approximately 7,100 complaints, which is the highest number in the history of the Ombudsman institution.
Read the Annual Report.