Complaints to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman about adult social care services have gone down – but more are being upheld compared with other complaints.
Ombudsman Michael King has also highlighted that the cost of providing care has become an increasingly common theme in the complaints made to him over the past year.
According to his Annual Review of Adult Social Care 2021-22, which covers council and independent care complaints, the Ombudsman upheld 70 per cent of the adult social care cases investigated – compared with 66 per cent of complaints about other council services.
However, since the last comparable year before the pandemic, the Ombudsman has received 16 per cent fewer complaints about adult care as a whole.
Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said the report added to the “growing evidence showing how critically underfunded social care is”, and reiterated the LGA’s call for the Prime Minister to deliver on a promised £13 billion for the sector.
He added: “Councils and care providers have worked tirelessly to keep vital care and support services going over the past year and continue to do so, despite significant and worsening financial and workforce challenges.
“It’s positive to see an overall decrease in the number of complaints, and it is right that providers and councils continue to work with the Ombudsman in its investigations to make improvements to their services.”
