Ombudsman review reveals complaints about English social care increasingly due to funding constraints

In its Annual Review of Adult Social care, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has revealed it is seeing more cases where councils are failing to provide care, or are limiting care, while using cost as the justification.

The cost of providing care has become an increasingly common theme in the complaints made to the Ombudsman over the past year. The review outlines some of the key complaints and their outcomes.

In one case, a family went from paying nothing for their elderly mother’s care to more than £3,500 a month after the council changed the way it assessed people’s contributions towards their care because of ‘budgetary pressures’.

In a different case, a young adult’s care and support needs were not met while two councils argued about who should foot the bill.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “The issues we are investigating are neither new nor surprising but do indicate a system with a growing disconnect between the care to which people are entitled, and the ability of councils to meet those needs.

“Care assessments, care planning and charging for care have been key features of our cases this year and a common theme is councils failing to provide care, or limiting it, and justifying this because of the cost. We appreciate budgets are becoming increasingly stretched but authorities’ duties under the Care Act remain and we will continue to hold authorities to account for what they should be doing rather than what they can afford to do.”

The review outlines that over the past year, the Ombudsman upheld 70% of the cases it investigated about adult social care – which is higher than the 66% average uphold rate across all areas it investigates.

However, this year the Ombudsman saw a significant fall in the number of complaints it received about adult social care for the first time since 2010, and it received 16% fewer complaints than two years ago. Complaints about care arranged privately also fell by 21%.

Michael King added: “I’m also concerned that more than a decade of rising demand and unmet need have left service users and their families, disillusioned, and feeling there is no point in making a complaint.

“I want people to know that their voice matters. What can at first appear a simple error affecting a single person can trigger a change in practice benefitting many others. We can and do use our powers to achieve the maximum impact from our investigations – indeed despite the fall in complaint numbers, we have made more recommendations to improve services than ever before.”

Responding to the 2021/22 annual review of social care complaints by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Councils and care providers have worked tirelessly to keep vital care and support services going over the last year and continue to do so, despite significant and worsening financial and workforce challenges. As this report rightfully highlights, a significant number of complaints can be directly attributed to underfunding.

“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.

“However, this report adds to the growing evidence showing how critically underfunded social care is and the consequences of that underfunding. Immediate action needs to be taken by the Government to prevent services worsening further, and that is why we are calling on the Prime Minister to deliver on her promise to give £13 billion to social care to rescue the sector.”

Lottie Winson