46 Case No. 13/02940 When a woman closed down her business, the municipality demanded that almost 30,000 DKK in early retirement pension be repaid. The woman complained to the Ombudsman about the demand. There are two conditions which must be fulfilled before a public authority can make a demand for repayment of retirement benefits: Firstly, the benefits must have been received wrongfully. Secondly, the recipient must be in bad faith. The Ombudsman sent the complaint on to the National Social Appeals Board so that the woman could get a more specific explanation as to why the municipality believed that she had received the money wrongly and in bad faith. In the opinion of the National Social Appeals Board, the basis for the repayment demand was not entirely clear, and the Board therefore asked for a renewed assessment from Udbetaling Danmark which is the authority responsible for collection, disbursement and control of a number of public benefits. Udbetaling Danmark did not think that the woman had acted in bad faith and, consequently, the outcome of the case was that the woman did not have to repay the pension after all. The Ombudsman will often be able to get a case back on track simply by sending it on to the relevant public authority. Case No. 14/03799 and 14/03800 During a monitoring visit to a state prison, the Ombudsman’s monitoring team praised the state prison’s own manual on assessment of the danger of suicide and prevention of suicidal behaviour. When visiting a nearby local prison the next day, the monitoring team suggested that the local prison staff find inspiration in the state prison’s suicide screening manual, as the local prison did not have any written guidelines on the subject. During his monitoring visits, the Ombudsman will gather information on ‘best practices’ and share it with the relevant authorities, institutions and users. Knowledge sharing can take place in both informal contacts and more formally in case reports and annual reports. Case No. 14/01037 When a mother received the birth certificate of her new born child, she was surprised to see that she herself was listed without her middle name. It turned out that she was registered like this in the church civil register. The woman had taken her husband’s last name but – or so she thought – she had kept her maiden name as a middle name. Her children had been given both names and the intention was that she and the children would have the same names. She asked the National Social Appeals Board for advice on how to register her middle name. The Board replied that according to the new Names Act the woman could apply to have her former maiden name changed to a proper middle name for a fee. The woman complained to the Ombudsman that she had to apply to have the middle name which she had always believed she had. But the Ombudsman had previously investigated a similar case and found that the Board’s interpretation of the Names Act was correct. Consequently, the reply in this case had to be the same, and the Ombudsman therefore did not investigate the complaint further. The National Social Appeals Board is one of the public authorities which the Ombudsman contacts most frequently. In 2014, the Ombudsman sent close on 900 letters to the Board. Case No. 14/01288 A citizen asked the Ombudsman about public authorities’ obligation to answer questions from the citizens in general. The Ombudsman replied that he does not issue general statements on legal matters unless such statements are placed in context with a specific complaint. He added that the citizen was, of course, welcome to write again should he wish to lodge a complaint in a specific matter. The framework of the Ombudsman’s work is stipulated in the Ombudsman Act. The Ombudsman’s core competence is to process specific complaints.