How to make a complaint about Adult Social Care services or thank them for their help

Good or bad your feedback is important to us. Your experience counts and helps us improve Adult Social Care for all.

Tell us

We want to make it easy for you to make a complaint, comment or compliment about a service you receive, or on behalf of someone who is affected by it. So let us know when we have got it right, as well as if you are unhappy with your service or a decision we have taken.

We are committed to providing you a high quality service. We think we get it right most of the time, but there may be times when things go wrong and you do not feel satisfied. If this happens, we want to hear about it so we can put things right. Your feedback is important to us, as what you say helps us to improve and develop our services to you.

Getting in touch

You can contact by:

• Calling 0800 587 0072
  
  
• Emailing:
  • Kensington and Chelsea: HSSCustomerCare@rbkc.gov.uk
  • Westminster: ASCCustomerFeedback@westminster.gov.uk
    
    
• Writing to:
  
  Customer Engagement Team, Adult Social Care,
  12th Floor, 64 Victoria Street,
  London, SW1E 6QP
  
  
• In person – contact the team using any method above to arrange an appointment.

Please contact us if you would like to meet face to face.

What you can expect from the process

We will ensure that the service you receive is not affected. When you make a complaint, we will:

• Go through the details of your comment or complaint and agree a reasonable date for response. This is usually ten working days unless the issues are complex
• Provide you with support if you need help to make a comment or complaint
• Explain the complaints process to you
• Write to you within three working days to let you know who is handling your complaint
• Take your comment or complaint seriously and make sure you receive a full and fair response
• Let you know if we need more time and agree an alternative timescale with you
• Advise and support you if your complaint is about another body acting on our behalf.

Please note that the usual time limit for making your complaint is 12 months from the date you became aware of the problem.

What if I remain unhappy?

If you remain unhappy with the outcome of your complaint, you can ask the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to look into it. They can be contacted by:

• Calling 0300 061 0614
  
  
• Writing to:
  The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
  PO Box 4771
  Coventry, CV4 0EH
  
  
• Visiting http://www.lgo.org.uk/

Who can help me?

If you would like help to complain or provide feedback, the following are here to help you:

The Advocacy Project

Offers advocacy for people in local communities with a mental health issue, dementia or a learning disability who are aged over 18:

• Call 020 8969 3000
  
  
• Write to:
  73 St. Charles Square
  London, W10 6EJ
  
  
• Visit http://www.advocacyproject.org.uk/
  
  
• Email info@advocacyproject.org.uk

POhWER

Offers advocacy for people with physical or sensory disability or long term illness for ages 18 and over:

• Call 0300 456 2370
  
  
• Write to:
  PO Box 14043
  Birmingham, B6 9BL
  
  
• Visit www.pohwer.net
  
  
• Email pohwer@pohwer.net

What if the complaint is not for us?

If your complaint concerns another agency (like the National Health Service or an independent provider), we will ask for your consent to pass your information to them to respond.

If your complaint is about the Council as well as another organisation, we will respond jointly with them to resolve your complaint as long as we have your consent.

You can complain to some services and agencies directly, for example a home care agency. This does not prevent you from complaining to the Council if you remain unhappy. You do not have to complain to the agency before coming to the Council but we do encourage you to do so.

Our commitment to you

• Fairness: We encourage you to make comments or complain about adult social care without fear of penalty, and will treat you fairly with respect and integrity
  
  
• Residents First: We will listen to, involve and communicate with you to ensure we can resolve any problem as quickly as possibly
  
  
• Valuing and encouraging all correspondence: We want to hear about your experiences – good and bad! We will use them as opportunities to improve the way we deliver services.
  
  
• Accepting something went wrong: We take all complaints seriously. We will deal with them responsibly and take all necessary steps to fix problems.
  
  
• One complaint, one response: We will provide clear, comprehensive and thorough responses to complaints about us, and organisations working on our behalf, or with us.
  
  
• Clear signposting to independent redress: We will clearly advise you of the next steps if you remain unhappy with our response.