Covid put huge pressure on councils with complaints-handling in some authorities becoming “a casualty of the crisis”: Ombudsman

The Covid-19 pandemic placed unprecedented pressure on councils and care providers, and “ in some authorities, dealing with public concerns and complaints itself became a casualty of the crisis”, a special report from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has said.

The report, Unprecedented pressure: learning from complaints about council and care provider actions during the Covid-19 pandemic, analysed the Ombudsman’s cases over the first 18 months of the pandemic.

The LGCSO said this analysis showed that, “by and large, councils and care providers weathered the unprecedented pressures they were under. But, when things did go wrong it had a serious impact on people’s lives.”

Cases highlighted in the report include a woman who died from Covid-19 at a care home with poor infection control procedures which was then compounded by staff later trying to cover up the facts.

Another case involved a homeless family left to sofa surf then sleep in a tent at the height of the pandemic, after different departments of the same council failed to help them.

The report welcomed that, in many cases, councils and care providers were already using their experiences from the pandemic to consider how they could make improvements to services.

The report also offers questions councillors and scrutiny committees can ask to reflect on their own council’s practice during this time.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “We have investigated some tragic individual cases over the past months. Each represents poor personal experiences where councils and care providers did not get things right.

“Our investigations have shown that, while the system did not collapse under the extreme pressures placed on it, COVID-19 has magnified stresses and weaknesses present before the pandemic affecting some councils and providers.”

Mr King added: “We have always advocated how crucial good complaint handling is in any setting, so I am particularly saddened that, in some authorities, dealing with public concerns and complaints itself became a casualty of the crisis. At a time when listening to public problems was more important than ever, we saw some overstretched and under-resourced complaints teams struggle to cope.

“If evidence was needed, this report proves that managing complaints should be considered a frontline service.”