Adult social care is not an ordinary two stage council complaint.
Complaints about adult social care arranged by a local authority are governed by a statutory complaints framework. The regulations provide a single stage procedure. Councils can design practical internal steps to resolve complaints efficiently, but the process should still lead to a clear final response rather than requiring the complainant to navigate repeated formal stages.
This distinction matters when a council website describes every complaint as “Stage 1” and “Stage 2”. Ask which statutory procedure is being used and whether the response you receive is the final response for Ombudsman purposes.
Timing and progress.
The statutory framework allows up to six months for a response, but that is not a target for routine complaints. The council should agree or explain how the complaint will be handled, investigate it proportionately, keep the complainant informed and respond sooner where the issues permit. Long periods of inactivity should be challenged by asking for a progress explanation and a firm expected completion date.
The LGSCO’s guidance encourages proportionate early resolution and a clear investigation where that does not resolve the complaint. The practical test is whether the council is genuinely progressing the issues, not whether the complaint has simply remained open on a system.
Separate care decisions from complaint handling.
A complaint can concern delay, communication, failure to follow an assessment, charging, care planning, failure to provide agreed support or the way a decision was made. But some disputes also involve reviews, assessments or legal rights that should be pursued directly rather than waiting for complaint correspondence.
If the underlying issue is causing ongoing harm or an immediate care problem, make that urgency explicit. A complaint should not be allowed to become a reason to postpone action needed now.
Build an evidence record.
Keep assessments, care and support plans, financial assessments, invoices, review records, correspondence, complaint acknowledgements and final responses. A chronology is particularly useful where services changed over time or several teams were involved. If the council changes its explanation, place the two explanations side by side and identify the underlying record that can resolve the difference.
Escalation to the LGSCO.
The Ombudsman generally expects the council to have had a reasonable opportunity to complete its complaint process. It can, however, consider whether delay itself has become unreasonable. When escalating, identify the alleged fault, the injustice caused, the evidence supporting the point, what the council has already done and what remedy is still required.
Escalate the right issue to the right body.
LGSCO is the individual complaint route after local handling. CQC can use information for regulation and inspection. A Care Act decision may also involve a legal challenge where an urgent assessment or service issue cannot safely wait for the normal complaints process.
Do not merge all concerns into “poor care”.
Separate care quality, council assessment/commissioning, charging, safeguarding, provider conduct and complaint handling. Each can have a different evidential and legal route.
Describe care failure in terms of assessed need, plan, delivery and impact.
| Question | Evidence |
|---|---|
| What need was assessed? | Care Act assessment, support plan, risk assessment |
| What service was agreed? | Care plan, placement agreement, commissioned hours |
| What actually happened? | Daily notes, missed visits, incident records, family records |
| What changed? | Review decision, reduction/increase, funding decision |
| What was the effect? | Safety, dignity, unmet need, expense, carer impact |
The 2009 complaints regulations contain important baseline rules.
For complaints covered by the Local Authority Social Services and NHS Complaints Regulations 2009, a complaint is ordinarily made within 12 months of the event or, if later, when it came to the complainant’s notice. Late complaints can still be accepted where there is good reason and fair/effective investigation remains possible. Complaints can be oral, written or electronic and normally must be acknowledged within three working days.
Who you complain to depends on who provided or arranged the care.
For adult social care in England, complain to the care provider and/or the council where it arranged or funded the care as appropriate. LGSCO can investigate complaints about adult social care within its jurisdiction, including privately funded care. CQC regulates care quality and uses information about poor care, but says it does not generally take forward individual complaints for you.
Official and primary sources
Check the live rules for your route.
- LGSCO, complaints about adult social care arranged by councils
- LGSCO, adult social care complaints, reviews and appeals guide
- Local Authority Social Services and NHS Complaints Regulations 2009
- CQC: Complain about an adult social care service ↗
ConsumerWise explains these materials in plain English. Check the live source where a deadline, rule about what the body can deal with or legal requirement may have changed.