Adult social care complaints

Adult social care complaints can be made by anyone who:

  • is receiving or has received services from adult social care
  • is affected or likely to be affected by the action, omission or decision of adult social care services
  • is a representative acting on behalf of a person who has died or is unable to make the complaint themselves because they have:
    • a physical incapacity
    • a lack of capacity within the meaning of the Mental Capacity Act 2005
    • requested that a representative act on their behalf

You have 12 months from when the incident occurred to when you make a complaint. Outside of this timeframe, we would not normally consider a complaint.

The process

In the first stage of the process, one of our internal officers will investigate your complaint.

Once they have completed their investigation, they will send you a written response.

Their response will include:

  • an explanation of how we have considered your complaint
  • our conclusions, including any action we need to take or have taken
  • confirmation that we are satisfied with the solution or proposed solution
  • details of policies, protocols or guidelines that have or have not been followed properly
  • an apology where appropriate
  • what has been learnt from the complaint
  • sign-off by the Assistant Director or a nominated Head of Service

If you are unhappy with our response, we may call upon an independent investigator. In such cases, the investigator will send you a copy of their final written report.

We may, if suitable, offer you a meeting to:

  • discuss the report and any recommendations
  • consider any proposed action to resolve the complaint or improve practice
  • discuss the action plan

If you are still not satisfied with the outcome, we will give you details of how to contact the Local Government Ombudsman.

Make a complaint

It is important for you to try and tell the people working with you or your family if you are unhappy with what is happening. This could include talking to the social worker or a member of staff. You can also make your complaint to the complaints manager using our online form. This will be sent to the team manager for resolution.

We can try to explain, put things right, apologise if appropriate and learn from what you tell us. We will try to do this within 10 working days.

To submit your complaint, fill in our complaint form.

Make a complaint

If you are unable to fill in the form, you can also make a complaint by:

Local Government Social Care Ombudsman

If we cannot resolve the complaint, you can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO).

The LGSCO will only investigate a complaint after it has been through the statutory complaints procedure.

Responses to complaints received by the LGSCO are co-ordinated by the Chief Executive’s Department.

For more information, visit the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman website or call 0300 061 0614.

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