Dealing with public concerns and complaints during Covid-19 pandemic became a ‘casualty of the crisis’ for some local authorities, Ombudsman says

New report concludes that, if evidence was needed, investigations into tragic individual cases over the pandemic period prove that managing complaints should now be considered a frontline service

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman service has said it is ‘saddened’ that, for some local authorities, dealing with public concerns and complaints during the Covid-19 pandemic became a 'casualty of the crisis'.

In a new report, Unprecedented pressure: Learning from complaints about council and care provider actions during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ombudsman analyses cases it investigated over the first 18 months of the pandemic, finding that, in general, councils and care providers managed the unprecedented pressures they were under relatively well. However, the report goes on to find that when things did go wrong, this had a serious impact on people’s lives, in particular in relation to social care and housing functions.

For example, the Ombudsman draws attention to cases with particularly severe consequences for the individuals concerned -

• a teenager was left to sofa surf and live in a tent for almost two months during the pandemic after his family was left homeless - the council then missed at least five opportunities to house the teenager and his mother during the summer of 2020 (Case reference: 20 004 585);
• the complainant’s mother was not properly cared for by care workers visiting her home during the pandemic and was therefore unable to get up and take her medication - the care provider also sent a care worker with Covid-19 symptoms despite agreeing that this should not happen (Case reference: 20 004 806); and
• a woman died from Covid-19 at a care home that was found to have poor infection control procedures and, during a subsequent investigation, staff tried to cover up the facts (Case reference: 20 014 255).

From an assessment of these and other investigations, the report identifies key lessons learned from the first 18 months of the pandemic, highlighting that Covid-19 exposed 'fault-lines' in council and care provider systems - including their systems for complaints handling, care planning, and housing advice - that were already present, and placed additional pressure on pre-existing weaknesses, some of which are the same weaknesses as highlighted in the Ombudsman's December 2018 Under Pressure report.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Michael King said -

‘We have investigated some tragic individual cases over the past months. Each represents poor personal experiences where councils and care providers did not get things right.

Our investigations have shown that, while the system did not collapse under the extreme pressures placed on it, Covid-19 has magnified stresses and weaknesses present before the pandemic affecting some councils and providers.

We have always advocated how crucial good complaint handling is in any setting, so I am particularly saddened that, in some authorities, dealing with public concerns and complaints itself became a casualty of the crisis. At a time when listening to public problems was more important than ever, we saw some overstretched and under-resourced complaints teams struggle to cope.

If evidence was needed, this report proves that managing complaints should be considered a frontline service.’

For more information, see Ombudsman’s COVID report highlights how councils and care providers coped from lgo.org.uk