The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review of Adult Social Care Complaints for 2023-2024 has revealed that the Ombudsman received 2,982 complaints over the past year, with over 80% of complaints upheld.
Key areas of concern over the past year have been delays in the assessment of people’s needs, and a failure to put people at the centre of their care, instead fitting that care in with council and providers’ systems.
Poor communication with both clients and their families has also been an area of concern, with particular issues around the information provided to service-users and their families being unclear or overly complex.
Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England says this new report highlights the interconnected challenges within the adult social care sector, signifying “systemic problems that cannot be ignored”.
In total, 695 complaints were related to assessment and care planning, while an additional 493 complaints focused on local authority charging processes. More than 900 investigations were carried out as a result of these complaints, but the Ombudsman, Amerdeep Somal, says only a small proportion (333) of these complaints and investigations were related to the independent sector.
Indeed, the number of complaints about privately funded and arranged care has dropped by 15%, following a continued trend over the past few years. Ms Somal says this number is far lower that expected given the sector’s proportion of the care market.
In order to bridge the gap between the number of people in receipt of care in the independent sector, and the low volume of complaints, the Ombudsman is calling for signposting to its services to be made mandatory at the end of every provider’s complaint process.
“People have a right to bring their complaint about adult social care to us, as the independent scrutineer. However, they don’t always know they can do so, and independent care providers should be signposting them to us, just as councils do.
“It is likely that low awareness of our role in privately funded and arranged care plays a part in creating this gap between the expectation and reality of the number of complaints we receive. Independent care providers are not required by law to signpost users to our service, and as it currently stands, we know it happens sporadically,” said Ms Somal.
“If all care providers were required by law to signpost to us it would give confidence that people know where to come with complaints and would support any suggestion that the drop in complaint numbers is caused by something other than a lack of awareness,” the Ombudsman added.
Reflecting on these findings, Care England says it now wants to see “sustained reform and long-term funding” to ensure care providers and local authorities can deliver the quality of care people deserve.
“This report brings into sharp focus the interconnected challenges within the adult social care sector, affecting both local authorities and care providers. It is alarming that such a high proportion of complaints are upheld, but this signals systemic problems that cannot be ignored.
“The fact that over 80% of complaints were upheld points to systemic failings that urgently need addressing. Local authorities play a pivotal role in the adult social care system, and we call on them to work more closely with care providers to ensure that assessments are carried out promptly, and that individuals are involved in decisions about their care.
“At Care England, we are committed to supporting our members in fostering person-led care and improving communication. However, sustained improvements will require more than isolated fixes. We need urgent, sustained reform and long-term funding from the government, as without this, both care providers and local authorities will continue to struggle in delivering the quality of care people deserve. The high uphold rate reflects the need for systemic changes to prevent these failures from reoccurring,” said Professor Green.
