What now for deprivations of liberty?
What will the effect of the postponement of the Liberty Protections Safeguards be on local authorities? Local Government Lawyer asked 50 adult social care lawyers for their views on the potential consequences.
SPOTLIGHT |
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) has revealed it is seeing more complaints related to reduced local government resources, “and this is sometimes cited as a reason for service failure”.
In its annual report and accounts for 2016/17, the LGO said it had upheld 53% of complaints where it had carried out an investigation.
The LGO also made nearly 4,000 recommendations during the year. Of these, more than 600 were to improve services for the public by recommending councils and care providers make policy and practice changes.
The Ombudsman added that:
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Michael King said: “We play a vital role in holding public services to account, and I have seen first-hand the huge difference we can make to people’s lives when we resolve serious failures.
“But it is not enough to fix people’s problems one by one. We must harness our unique insight into where things are going wrong to help councils and care providers improve services for everyone’s benefit.
“I am proud of the work we did last year, and the successes are down to the skills and dedication of every member of our staff.”
King added: “For us to alter our expectations in order to accommodate these challenges would be to let down the public and the bodies in jurisdiction themselves. We will continue to hold public bodies and care providers to account against the law, relevant guidance and their own policies; and share our findings to aid scrutiny of services.”
The annual report can be obtained here.