Make a complaint about adult social care

Overview

If you aren't happy with our services, we'll try to fix the problem quickly, investigate it fairly, and keep you informed. We’ll respond to you to explain what we find and any actions we may take.

You can complain about anything to do with adult social care (ASC). This includes the services we provide and those we commission from other providers. For example:

the quality of the service you’ve received
lack of/delayed service
an assessment decision
attitudes, actions or behaviour of staff

You should make your complaint as soon as possible. It should be no later than 12 months from the event or from realising that there was a problem.

Who can complain

You can make a complaint if you:

receive or have received ASC services that are provided by or commissioned by Walsall Council
are someone who is affected, or likely to be affected, by an action or decision of Walsall Council

You can also complain on behalf of someone who:

has died
is physically or mentally unable to make the complaint themselves
has asked you to complain for them (we will need their consent to share their information)

How to make a complaint

We'll need to know your name and address, email address or phone number. If you're complaining on someone else's behalf, please tell us their name.

Explain what your complaint is about, and what outcome you're looking for.

You can do this by:

email
post
phone

What happens next

We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days.

Stage 1: Local resolution

We aim to respond within 20 working days. Complex cases may take longer, so we’ll agree a deadline with you if necessary.

We will:

assess the problems mentioned in your complaint. We’ll see if they are eligible, and if they can be addressed under this statutory procedure
work with you to agree a plan. This will set out the main issues of your complaint.
assign the complaint to the right officer, usually the manager of the service the complaint is about
write to you to let you know your complaint will be handled under the statutory procedure, and who will investigate and respond to it.

If we can’t handle your complaint under the statutory procedure, we will tell you. If needed, we’ll give you more advice, suggest another process, or guide you to the best organisation to help.

After your complaint has been investigated, we’ll write to you and explain how we looked into it, what we found, and what we’ve done to address your concerns.

Stage 2: Ombudsman

If you’ve followed all our steps to complain and are still not happy, you can ask the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to review your complaint.

The ombudsman is an independent service. They will look into your complaint fairly and won’t take sides. It’s free to use.

Before you contact the ombudsman, they will expect you to have given us a chance to handle your complaint. If you don't hear from us in a reasonable time (usually up to 12 weeks), they might look into your complaint anyway.

Contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.