This policy is based on the following legislation:
The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 as amended.
A complaint must be handled under the regulation. The regulations:
- Establish a unified, statutory framework across health and social care, ensuring complaints are handled consistently by all “responsible bodies” such as councils, NHS providers, and funded care providers.
- Define clear responsibilities by mandating each body appoint a complaints manager, set up transparent procedures, and resolve issues swiftly, typically within six months.
- Protect people’s rights, outlining exactly what can be complained about, who can complain, acceptable timeframes, and the format of communications.
- Ensure accessibility and transparency, requiring acknowledgement within three working days, explanation of the process, and a formal response at conclusion.
- Enable escalation by specifying that individuals may take unresolved complaints to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, ensuring independence and fairness.
- Facilitate learning and improvement, as data on complaints must be monitored, reported, and used to identify systemic issues and improve service quality
Complaints often involve sensitive personal data, including health and care records. Alongside this policy, the council must ensure:
- Secure handling and storage of complaint records.
- Clear retention schedules (e.g. how long complaints data is kept before deletion).
- 'Individuals’ rights to access, correct, or request deletion of their data.
- Procedures for responding to Subject Access Requests (SARs) within one month.
- Staff are trained in data protection and privacy impact assessments are completed where necessary.
Breaches of GDPR must be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and affected individuals.
The Equality Act protects individuals from discrimination based on protected characteristics (e.g. age, disability, race, gender, religion).
The policy must ensure that:
- Complaints processes are accessible to all, with reasonable adjustments offered.
- Equalities monitoring is embedded to identify who is using the complaints process and whether any groups are underrepresented or disadvantaged.
- Staff are trained to recognise and respond to discrimination-related complaints.
- The Public Sector Equality Duty requires the council to consider how complaints handling affects people with protected characteristics and to take steps to eliminate discrimination and promote equality
The Care Act 2014
The Care Act sets out the rights of individuals to receive care that meets their assessed needs.
The complaints policy must:
- Allow individuals to challenge decisions about their care and support.
- Be proportionate, person-centred, and outcome-focused
- Include access to independent advocacy for those who need support to make a complaint.
- Complaints about assessments, eligibility decisions, care planning, and service delivery must be handled in line with Care Act principles.
Other legislation relevant to this policy includes but is not limited to:
Regulations which apply to health and social care services in England regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Please see section 8.
- The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in particular Regulations 16 (receiving and acting on complaints) and 20 (duty of candour).
