New Focus Report- Under Pressure
Councils mustn't throw out the rule book in the face of pressure, says Ombudsman
 We are challenging local authorities not to “throw out the rule book” when redesigning services in the face of budget and resource pressures.
Our new report, reveals how the stark reality of the huge changes councils have made in the last decade, often in response to unprecedented financial pressures, is now playing out in the complaints we investigate.
The report, Under Pressure, is based on nearly 40 case studies in which we identified systemic problems stemming from councils changing the way they provided services.
While we receive relatively few complaints compared to the scale of local government services, sharing the learning from these cases can help councils avoid unforeseen negative consequences when undergoing change programmes.
Alongside the report, we have launched a revised Principles of Good Administrative Practice document. This has been developed in consultation with the sector, and provides a shared understanding of what good administration looks like.
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Social care pressures reflected in Ombudsman’s annual review of complaints
“It’s no longer just one-off mistakes; we’re seeing problems with systems, policies and the way procedures are being applied…”
 Over the past year, we have become increasingly concerned about the way some authorities are handling the need to balance the pressures they are under with the way they assess and charge for care.
In November 2018 we published our Adult Social Care Annual Review. The report, which looks at the data behind every adult social care complaint we have received over the 12-month period, shows there has been a nine per cent increase in complaints about charging. And of those complaints, we are upholding 67% - higher than the average uphold rate for adult social care of 62%, and greater still than the 57% uphold rate for all complaints we investigate.
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An opportunity to meet other care providers and adult social care complaint handlers, share best practice and learn how the Ombudsman can help you
If your council's adult social care complaints handlers or approved providers would like the chance to network and find out about the latest developments in Adult Social Care, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is holding a number of events across the country in February and March.
The events in Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds and London will include the chance to learn about how to use complaints to drive service improvements, along with a discussion session on dealing with challenging behaviour from friends and relatives.
Ombudsman Michael King will also talk about the Annual Review of Complaints, and you can also find out how the Ombudsman is working in partnership with the CQC and other organisations.
Lunch will also be included. For all of this there is a nominal charge of £50 which includes refreshments and lunch.
Updates
- Following your recent feedback we have now updated our complaint form to include the date the complainant came to us.
- Some responses to enquiries are still not being marked as Do Not Disclose where there is information that cannot be shared with the complainant. We have the power of the high court, but also must abide by data protection legislation. We will not share anything with the complainant we are not supposed to, but ask that you send this information separately and mark it as Do Not Disclose. Our Manual for Councils contains more information.
- We plan to host an effective complaint handling course in London in March, which any councils can book themselves onto. This builds on two successful 'open' courses we held in Birmingham and York this year. More details will be sent out in the new year.
- Next year we will be launching a complaint handlers' network. This will give an opportunity for staff at the frontline of complaints to identify, share and learn from best practice. If you are interested in joining the network please get in touch with me - Alan Park, External Training and Relationship Coordinator.
New notification letter
A Court of Appeal judgement against the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman earlier this year (Miller v Health Service Commissioner for England [2018] EWCA Civ 144) highlighted the need to notify bodies within jurisdiction of the proposal to investigate a complaint and provide them with an opportunity to comment.
In most cases we were already doing this through enquiry letters at investigation. However, on reviewing our procedures we identified it was possible a body in jurisdiction may be unaware an investigation was taking place until we issued a draft decision.
In response to this we piloted use of a notification letter telling bodies we were investigating and giving them an opportunity to comment. The pilot was a success and in November we introduced the letter to all investigations.
We send the letter early in the process, when we allocate the complaint to an investigator. The letter is intended as a notification and in most cases will not require a response. However, it may be that events have moved on since you were last involved with the complaint, and this is your opportunity to let us know at an early stage of the investigation. For example, we recently received a response to the letter to tell us the complainant had now taken the matter to court. We confirmed this with the complainant and discontinued our investigation as we had no jurisdiction to investigate.
The letter is not an enquiry letter and does not require comments on the substantive matters of the case. You will still have an opportunity to respond to any enquires we believe are necessary, and comment on our draft decisions.
Consent
We generally expect complaints to be made by the person affected. We only accept complaints from representatives if certain conditions are met.
- If the person affected is able to authorise a person to act on their behalf they need to provide written consent.
- If the person is unable to authorise a person to act on their behalf, we must be satisfied this is the case and they are a suitable representative.
We generally consider a young person affected has capacity to either complain to us direct, or give consent to a representative at 16. However, each decision will depend on the individual circumstances.
As well as Under Pressure and our Annual Review of Adult Social Care, we have also published the following guidance and public interest reports.
Summer born admissions guidance
On 12 December we will issue guidance which explains the basis for our view on 'summer born' complaints. This will be available in our information centre, along with our other focus reports and guidance notes.
Public Reports
Since the last edition of Ombudsman Link, we have issued eight public reports about the following subjects: Special educational needs, deprivation of assets, homelessness, school transport, planning enforcement, child protection and special guardians. As usual, all our reports can be found on the news page of our website.
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