Tell us when something isn’t right

1. How to raise a concern

You can raise a concern verbally or in writing — whichever is easier for you. There is no form you have to use and no particular wording you need.

You can also speak to any member of staff, or ask to speak to a manager directly. If it’s easier to raise something informally first, that’s fine — many things are resolved that way.

2. Who can make a complaint

• A person using our services
• A family member or friend
• A representative or advocate acting on someone’s behalf
• Any other interested party, including professionals involved in someone’s care

3. What happens next

• We acknowledge it. You’ll be told your complaint has been received.
• An appropriate manager investigates. They’ll look into what happened and speak to the people involved.
• You receive a written outcome. We’ll explain what we found and what we’re doing about it.
• Internal review. If you’re not satisfied with the outcome, it can be escalated internally for review.
• External escalation. If you’re still not satisfied, you can take it further — see below.

Our full complaints policy, including the timescales we work to at each stage, is available on request. Please ask us and we’ll send it to you.

4. If you’re not satisfied

You don’t need our permission to contact any of these, and you can do so at any point.

• Your local authority or commissioner — where care is arranged or funded by them, they can review concerns about the service provided.
• Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman — for adult social care complaints, once the provider’s process has been completed. 0300 061 0614, lgo.org.uk
• Care Quality Commission — CQC can receive information about concerns regarding regulated care. It does not resolve individual complaints, but what you tell it informs its regulation of us. 03000 616161, cqc.org.uk
• Ofsted — for concerns about our supported accommodation provision. 0300 123 1231

5. Feedback that isn’t a complaint

Not everything needs to be a formal complaint. If something could be better, or if a member of staff has done something well, we’d like to know that too.

We use feedback from the people we support, families, professionals and staff to review care plans, identify training needs and improve how our services are delivered. In practice that can mean adjusting how support is provided, or changing which staff member supports someone where a different match would work better.

6. Safeguarding concerns

If your concern is that someone is at risk of harm, abuse or neglect, that is a safeguarding matter rather than a complaint, and it is dealt with differently and more urgently.