Understanding care complaints in England

Clear guidance when you are concerned about care

When you are worried about your own care or the care of someone you love, knowing where to start can feel overwhelming. You may want answers, an improvement in care or reassurance that your concerns are being taken seriously.

This guide explains how to raise a complaint about adult care in England, including nursing homes, residential care homes, domiciliary care and CQC-registered personal care in supported living. It explains who to contact, what to expect and how to take your concerns further.

You do not need to know every rule or have all the evidence before asking for help.

This guide covers adult care in England. Complaints arrangements differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have their own care regulators and procedures.

Where do I start

  • Someone may be unsafe: seek urgent help or contact the council's adult safeguarding team. Do not wait for a complaint response.

  • You want to raise a concern: contact the care provider. If the council arranges or funds the care, you can contact the council directly instead.

  • You have received a response: check whether it answers your concerns and explains what will happen next.

  • The complaint remains unresolved: ask about the appropriate ombudsman route or seek advice about delays.

Jump to: Who to contact · Making a complaint · What to expect · Checking the response · Taking it further · Getting support

If someone may be unsafe act now

If someone is in immediate danger, or needs emergency medical help, call 999.

If you suspect abuse or neglect, contact the local council's adult safeguarding team. You can also tell CQC about concerns relating to a registered service.

Do not wait for a complaints investigation to finish before seeking protection or urgent care. Safeguarding action and a complaint may need to proceed alongside each other.

What can you complain about

Examples include concerns about:

  • The quality, safety or consistency of care.

  • Missed, late or shortened home-care visits.

  • Medication, nutrition, hydration or personal care.

  • Dignity, privacy, communication or how someone is treated.

  • Whether assessed needs and agreed care plans are being met.

  • Fees, charges or unclear information about services.

  • How a previous concern or complaint has been handled.

A complaint can relate to one incident, a pattern of problems or a failure to act. It helps to explain what happened and how it affected the person receiving care.

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Identify who is responsible

For a concern about care delivery, the care provider is usually the starting point. Ask for its complaints procedure and the details of the person responsible for complaints. This may be the registered manager, a senior manager or a complaints team.

Select a care setting below:

  • The home manager or provider's complaints team.

  • The home manager or provider. If the concern involves a separate NHS service, contact that service about its part.

  • The home-care agency's manager or complaints team.

  • The care provider for care concerns; the landlord or housing provider for repairs, tenancy or accommodation concerns.

If the council arranges or funds the care, you can also complain directly to the council. You do not have to approach the provider first if you would prefer to raise the matter with the council.

A note about supported living

In supported living, care and housing are usually provided under separate arrangements. CQC regulates registered personal care, rather than the accommodation itself. Housing-only or social-support services are not necessarily CQC registered.

A concern involving both care and housing may therefore need more than one organisation to respond. Ask each organisation to explain its responsibilities and the appropriate escalation route.

For an unresolved complaint about repairs or the landlord's housing management, the Housing Ombudsman may be able to help if the landlord belongs to its scheme and the issue falls within its remit. Normally, you must first complete the landlord's complaints procedure. It can also help where the landlord is not responding. Other housing issues may follow a different route; check before escalating.

When health and social care services are both involved

Where a complaint spans NHS and council social care services covered by the statutory complaints arrangements, the organisations must cooperate to coordinate handling and the response, and seek to agree who will lead communication with you. You can raise the complaint with one of the organisations involved and ask it to coordinate the relevant parts, with appropriate consent for information sharing.

You should not be left to resolve disputes between organisations about who is responsible. Ask who your main contact will be and whether you will receive a coordinated response. Separate housing complaints may follow a different process.

Raise the concern or make a formal complaint

If you feel comfortable, speaking with the manager may resolve a concern quickly. You can ask what will happen next and when you will receive an update.

You can also make a formal complaint directly. You do not need to continue informal discussions when a concern is serious, recurring or unresolved.

Complaints can be made verbally or in writing, including to a member of staff providing care. A letter or email can help you keep a clear record. Saying that you want the matter handled through the complaints procedure can make your intention clear, but you should not have to use particular words or complete an online form for your concerns to be recognised.

If you complain verbally, ask for a written record so you can check that your concerns have been understood. Under the statutory council and NHS complaints arrangements, an oral complaint that proceeds through the complaints process must be recorded and a copy provided to you.

Try to include:

  • Who the complaint concerns and which service is involved.

  • What happened, with dates or approximate dates.

  • The effect on the person receiving care and anyone else affected.

  • What you have already raised and the responses received.

  • What you would like the organisation to do.

  • How you would prefer to be contacted.

Keep copies of correspondence and notes of conversations. Share relevant information you already have, but do not delay raising a concern because you do not have access to care records. The provider should examine its own records as part of the investigation.

What would you like to happen

You might want an explanation, an apology, a review of the care plan, a missed service restored or changes that prevent the same problem happening again. Be as specific as you can about what would help.

The outcome will depend on the findings and the organisation's powers. Making a complaint does not guarantee compensation or disciplinary action against a member of staff.

Understand what to expect

A CQC-registered provider must have an accessible complaints system, investigate complaints and act on failures it identifies. It should acknowledge your complaint, explain how it will be handled and keep you informed.

Ask who will handle your complaint, which issues will be investigated, what outcome you are seeking and when you will receive updates. Where possible, a detailed investigation should be undertaken by someone who was not directly involved in the events complained about.

Support to take part

You can ask for reasonable adjustments and communication support. Depending on your needs, this might include:

  • Telephone discussions rather than relying on an online form.

  • An interpreter or information in Easy Read, large print or another accessible format.

  • Additional time, breaks or a quieter setting for discussions.

  • A trusted person or advocate to support you at meetings.

  • An agreed contact method and written summaries of discussions.

Explain what would help you take part. Ask the organisation to record agreed adjustments so you do not have to keep requesting them.

A useful response should explain the findings, address your main concerns and set out any action being taken. It should also explain where you can go if you remain dissatisfied.

Making a complaint must not lead to discrimination or victimisation, or adversely affect someone's care or treatment. If you are worried about this, record what has happened and raise it promptly with senior management and, where relevant, the council or CQC.

How long should it take

Ask for the provider's acknowledgement and response times. There is no single final-response deadline that applies to every care complaint. If the investigation is delayed, ask for an explanation and a revised response date.

For complaints handled under the statutory council adult social care or NHS complaints arrangements, the organisation must acknowledge the complaint within three working days after the day it receives it and offer to discuss how it will be handled, including the likely response timetable. This is an acknowledgement deadline, not a deadline for completing the investigation. Privately arranged care complaints may have different acknowledgement times under the provider's policy.

The six month statutory framework

Under these statutory council and NHS arrangements, the investigation must be handled speedily and efficiently, with progress updates. The final written response must be sent as soon as reasonably practicable after the investigation finishes.

If no final response has been sent within six months of receipt, or a longer period agreed with you before those six months expire, the organisation must explain the delay in writing and send the response as soon as reasonably practicable afterwards.

This does not mean every complaint should take six months, or that an investigation automatically stops at that point. You can seek advice about unreasonable delays earlier.

Council complaints should not require repeated formal stages

The statutory council adult social care complaints process is a single-stage process. A council may try early resolution before a more detailed investigation, but you should not have to start the complaint again or navigate repeated formal stages to obtain its final response.

A private care provider may have its own internal review arrangements. Ask which procedure applies to your complaint and when the organisation will issue a final response.

Is the complaint response clear and complete

When you receive a response, check whether it:

  • Addresses each main concern and the outcome you asked for.

  • Explains what was investigated and the information considered.

  • Compares what happened with what should have happened.

  • Gives clear findings and reasons, including any limits to what could be established.

  • Recognises the impact of identified failures and gives a meaningful apology where appropriate.

  • Explains how things will be put right, who is responsible and the expected timescale.

  • Describes any learning or improvements and how you will be updated.

  • Makes clear whether this is the final response and gives the appropriate escalation route.

Not every complaint will be upheld. Even where the organisation disagrees with you, its response should explain why. If important points are missing, list them clearly and ask for clarification.

  • Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, normally after the council has had an opportunity to respond.

  • Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, normally after the provider has had an opportunity to respond.

  • Public Service Ombudsman, formerly the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, normally after the relevant NHS complaints process.

Take unresolved concerns further

If the response leaves important questions unanswered, explain which points remain unresolved. Check whether the organisation has issued its final response and whether any further review applies. You can approach the appropriate ombudsman after the local process has ended; you do not need to keep asking the organisation to reconsider indefinitely.

For NHS complaints, you can normally complain to the service provider or the organisation commissioning the service, often the local integrated care board. You should not pursue duplicate investigations of the same NHS complaint through both routes.

A nursing home complaint does not automatically follow the NHS route simply because nurses provide care. The route depends on the service and issue involved. Where a complaint spans health and social care, the two ombudsmen may work together.

If you have not received a response

You do not have to wait indefinitely. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman currently regards up to 16 weeks as a reasonable opportunity for a council or care provider to investigate and reply. This is not a universal statutory deadline or a requirement to wait 16 weeks after receiving a final response. It may consider some complaints earlier, for example where someone is particularly vulnerable. Contact it for advice about unresolved delay.

For an NHS complaint, the Public Service Ombudsman advises that you can approach it if the complaint remains unanswered after six months, or after the local process ends if you remain dissatisfied.

Time limits raise concerns promptly

  • Complaints to the council or NHS: under the statutory arrangements, normally complain within 12 months of the event, or of becoming aware of it if later. Late complaints may be accepted where there is good reason for the delay and a fair and effective investigation is still possible.

  • Complaints to a privately arranged care provider: check its complaints policy and raise concerns as soon as possible.

  • Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman: normally complain within 12 months of first becoming aware of the problem.

  • Public Service Ombudsman for NHS complaints: normally bring the complaint to it within 12 months of becoming aware that you have something to complain about. Exceptions may be possible for good reasons, but are not guaranteed.

Do not assume you have a new 12-month period after receiving the organisation's final response. If local handling is delayed or a deadline is approaching, contact the appropriate ombudsman for advice. If time has already passed, explain the circumstances rather than assuming the complaint cannot be considered.

Official Contacts

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

lgo.org.uk · 0300 061 0614 · Advice about unresolved adult social care complaints, including privately arranged care.

Public Service Ombudsman

ombudsman.org.uk · 0345 015 4033 · Advice about unresolved NHS complaints in England.

Care Quality Commission

cqc.org.uk · 03000 616161 · Share concerns about the quality or safety of registered care.

Housing Ombudsman

housing-ombudsman.org.uk · Check whether it can consider an unresolved landlord complaint.

Ombudsmen decide whether a complaint falls within their remit and whether to investigate; referral does not guarantee an investigation. For an immediate emergency, call 999 rather than an ombudsman or regulator.

The role of CQC

The Care Quality Commission regulates health and adult social care services in England. You can tell CQC about poor care at any stage, including while the provider is investigating your complaint.

CQC uses this information to inform its understanding of a service and its regulatory decisions. It generally does not investigate or resolve individual care complaints on your behalf. Telling CQC does not replace complaining to the provider, council or appropriate NHS organisation, or approaching an ombudsman.

Can I complain on behalf of someone else

You can support a loved one to raise a complaint. Where they can consent, the organisation will usually need their permission before discussing confidential information with you.

If they cannot consent, ask how the organisation will establish an appropriate representative. Being a relative does not automatically give access to all information. Equally, a complaint should not automatically be rejected simply because a person lacks capacity and there is no attorney or deputy; the suitability of a representative should be considered.

You can still report a safety concern even if you are not authorised to receive confidential information. Keep the person's wishes and involvement central wherever possible.

Independent support with your complaint

Laver Accord can help you understand the appropriate route, organise your concerns, prepare a clear complaint, review the response and consider practical next steps. Support can include reviewing documents and helping you prepare for discussions with care providers and other professionals.

Your first 45-minute consultation is free. If further support would be helpful, we will explain the proposed work and bespoke fees before you decide whether to proceed.

Ombudsman services are free. Free NHS complaints advocacy is also available; your local Healthwatch can help you find it. You do not need to pay for support to make a complaint.

Find out about our care complaints support

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This guide covers adult care complaints in England and provides general information, rather than legal advice. Routes may vary with the circumstances. Information checked: 13 October 2026.



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