If something goes wrong with your care, we're here to help
Complaints about adult social care in England rose by 22% last year, according to our latest annual review.
We received 3,938 complaints and enquiries in 2025-26. Of those we investigated, we upheld 77%. But there's good news too: councils and care providers acted on our recommendations in 99.8% of cases, and more organisations are putting things right themselves before we need to investigate.
Encouragingly, complaints from people who fund their own care also rose, up 10%, suggesting growing awareness of their right to come to us. However, we remain concerned that too few people in this group come forward, given how much care is privately arranged.
The largest number of complaints we received concerned assessment and care planning, while safeguarding saw the biggest percentage rise. Common issues across our casework included delay, poor communication and insufficient record keeping. Where organisations agreed to put things right, 85% carried out the agreed actions on time, helping rebuild trust with the people and families affected.
Our full report and data tables are available at www.lgo.org.uk/ascreview
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Speaking up for children and families: our latest consultation responses
Since our last update, we've responded to three government consultations relating to children and education.
These covered an Ofsted consultation on improving the way it inspects children's social care, a Department for Education consultation on updating foster care standards and guidance, and a further Department for Education consultation on SEND reform, specifically education otherwise than at school.
When we respond to consultations like these, we draw on the wealth of evidence gathered through our casework. In this instance, we were able to draw on a large amount of evidence from complaints we've received about children and education, helping to ensure that the real experiences of children and families inform these important policy discussions.
All our consultation responses are published on our website.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has changed its name to the Public Service Ombudsman, to better reflect the full range of complaints it handles.
Nothing about the service itself has changed. The Public Service Ombudsman will continue to investigate complaints about the NHS in England and more than 300 government departments and public bodies, exactly as before.
Here at the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, we want to reassure people that this name change doesn't affect us or our role. We will continue to investigate complaints about councils, social care providers and other local organisations in England, just as we always have.
If you're ever unsure which ombudsman can help with your complaint, you can check on our website or get in touch with us directly.
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