Margaret Whalley has held a variety of roles in education across Lancashire and Greater Manchester. She began her teaching career in a tiny primary school on the outskirts of Wigan. As the National Curriculum was rolled out, she was appointed as a primary science advisory teacher for the Wigan authority. [Biography continues below ...]
More recently, she has worked with newly-arrived children teaching English as an additional language. In her spare time, she has written non-fiction junior science titles for Two Can Publishing and carried out some consultancy work for Franklin Watts. For over a decade, she has tried to secure proper scrutiny regarding the bizarre end-of-life pathway placements (two placements and one in the same week) for her brother Bob, who died in 2012.
She applied to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) and an investigation began in 2014. It became apparent her crucial written evidence was being repeatedly disregarded. When she requested the evidence material for the PHSO decision-making, none could be identified and supplied. Nonetheless, the Final Report was rushed to publication in 2016.
By this time, Margaret had discovered PHSO-thefacts, a support group of those willing to compare notes about their own PHSO experiences and determined to learn more about the regulator. Margaret set herself the challenge of securing a review, and in 2019, finally received the offer of a fresh investigation and an apology from the Ombudsman, Rob Behrens, regarding a catalogue of staff failings. Margaret drew upon the contents of Mr Behrens’ written apology in her blog, published by the UK Administrative Justice Institute in 2020 entitled Developing Emotional Intelligence—a priority for the PHSO?
