Challenging a children's or adult social care decision

Step by step

1. Use the urgent route when someone is unsafe

   A complaint is not the way to deal with an emergency or a safeguarding concern. The children's statutory complaints procedure does not cover child protection or safeguarding. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999. If a child or adult may be at risk, tell the local safeguarding or duty team straight away. Say what is happening now and what needs to happen straight away.

2. Get the decision, reasons and evidence in writing

   Ask for the assessment, the decision, the care or support plan, how any budget was worked out, and any panel decision, with the reasons. Ask which facts and rules were used, what was accepted or turned down, and how the person's views were taken into account.

3. Ask for the right assessment

   For a disabled child, contact the social services team at your local council. A social worker will talk to you about the needs of your family, including health, social care and education. GOV.UK calls this a 'needs assessment'. A parent carer can ask for a parent carer's needs assessment. The council must look at this if it appears a parent carer may need support, or if the parent asks. For an adult, ask the council for an assessment of needs, and ask whether a carer's assessment is available. Ask for advocacy or communication support if you need it.

4. Challenge delay as well as the final decision

   Delay is something you can complain about. Ask the council how long the assessment will take and who the manager is. Ask what support or safety plan is in place while you wait, and ask the reason for any delay. Keep a note of dates. Ask the council what the timescale is for your assessment.

5. Describe unmet needs and outcomes

   Use real examples of personal care, supervision, communication, behaviour, sleep, mobility, community access, family pressure, safety and independence. Say how often, how serious it is, what happens without support and what you want to change. Keep evidence of need separate from a wish for a particular provider or service.

6. Separate eligibility, budget and provider problems

   Ask whether the council says there is no eligible need, too little support, an unsuitable plan, a wrong budget, or no available provider. Each problem needs a different fix. For disabled children, the Council for Disabled Children handbook says the council can take account of its resources when it decides whether it is 'necessary' to meet a child's needs. But once it accepts that it is necessary, the needs must be met, and cost only matters in how they are met in the most cost-effective way. If there is no provider, ask the council in writing what it will do and when it will review.

7. Ask for review or reassessment when facts changed

   Ask for a review when needs, risks, placement, school attendance, health or support have changed, or when the plan is not working. Say what changed, when, and what help is needed in the meantime.

8. Treat direct payments as a choice, not a substitute for assessment

   If your child qualifies for services from the council, you will also have the option of direct payments. These are paid to you so you can arrange the services you need, as an alternative to services the council provides. Think about whether you want this. Ask about payroll, employing someone, back-up cover and support before you agree to manage a package.

9. Use the children's complaint procedure where it applies

   Councils handle some complaints about Children's Services under a special three-stage process. It covers services to children in need or in care, fostering, adoption support and special guardianship. Stage 1 is a reply from the service. The LGSCO says you should get a stage 1 response within 10 days of complaining. Stage 2 is an investigation with an Independent Person. It should take no more than 25 days for a simple complaint and 65 days for a complex one. Stage 3 is a review panel. It should meet within 30 days of you asking, and the council has 15 working days to respond to its report. The council should tell you whether it is using this procedure or its own. Ask it to tell you in writing, with the timetable. Councils may decide not to accept a complaint made more than a year after the events, but should not apply that rigidly.

10. Use the adult social care complaint route separately

    The three-stage process described by the Ombudsman is for Children's Services. For adult social care, complain first to the council or care provider. Say which decision, assessment, service failure or delay you are complaining about, how it affected you, your evidence and what you want. Keep complaint and safeguarding routes separate, but let each team know about the other.

11. Ask for advocacy and accessible communication

    Ask for information in a format you can use. Ask whether an independent advocate is available to you. A trusted supporter can help you collect evidence and go to meetings, but your own voice, or your child's, should still come first.

12. Go to the Ombudsman after the council has had a fair chance

    The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman usually looks at a complaint only after the council has had a fair chance to deal with it. For adult social care, it can look at things like delay and assessments of need. It thinks up to 16 weeks is a reasonable time for a reply, and you should usually complain within 12 months of when you first knew about the problem. For children's statutory complaints, it normally expects you to finish that procedure first and will mainly look at how the council handled it. The Ombudsman cannot question what a council has done just because someone disagrees with it.

13. Get urgent specialist advice for serious problems

    A complaint can be slow. The Council for Disabled Children handbook says decisions not to assess or provide support for disabled children can be challenged through the complaints procedure and, where sufficiently urgent and important, through judicial review. If essential support has stopped, or serious needs are not being met, get advice from a specialist community-care or public-law solicitor or an advice charity as soon as you can. This guide is information, not legal advice.