This year marks the 10^th anniversary of our joint working team with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The team of dedicated staff from both LGSCO and PHSO, work to a single agreed approach to complaints which cross health and social care. This means one investigator deals with each case. Having a joint team means we can provide an integrated service for the person complaining, even though their complaint spans two or more organisations. It also means that each case is dealt with as quickly and effectively as possible.

The Joint Working team fulfil a vital role in navigating those cases where health and social care have been working together, often not as effectively as they could or should. The evidence from Joint Working cases tells us that, whilst at a senior level, efforts are being made for social care and health organisations to work co-operatively, this doesn’t always translate to what happens at service delivery level. We used those lessons to produce a new type of document last year – People, Not Structures – which was squarely aimed at senior leaders in health and social care organisations, rather than at the public or practitioners.

I look forward to continuing this work with Paula Sussex, the recently appointed Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to ensure members of the public can easily raise complaints about these services.

We've published new guidance to help councils better support children who are unable to go to school.

Over the past few years we've seen an exponential rise in complaints involving alternative education provision. In three years our caseload has increased tenfold with 38 cases investigated in 2021-22 compared with 400 in 2024-25. Many of the cases now involve children facing challenges attending school because of anxiety, while a large proportion also involve children and young people with special educational needs.

Our new guide shares the lessons from our casework, shining a light on where we have seen things go wrong. It also shares evidence of where we have seen good practice, demonstrating the positive impact that good administration has on local services.

Read more

We have launched two new videos to explain what to do if you need to complain about your local council or a care provider.

The videos explain what steps you need to take before you complain and how to explain what’s gone wrong when you need to raise a complaint.

We will be encouraging local councils and care providers to use these videos on their own websites and social media platforms to help people understand their rights to make a complaint.

• Watch the council video
• Watch the care provider video

In November 2025, we will hold our first advisory forum with local authorities. Similar to our existing complainant advisory forum, it will provide a platform for local authority officers to share feedback on how we work, raise concerns, and contribute to meaningful improvements through constructive discussion.

The intention of the forum is to better understand and respond to the experiences of the organisations we investigate.

Officers from all local authorities within our jurisdiction have been invited to express an interest in joining the forum. Members will rotate every two years to ensure fresh perspectives and broad representation.