Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 2 of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review of Adult Social Care Complaints 2025-2026, published on 24 September 2026, what steps her Department is taking to assist local authorities and care providers to improve initial complaint handling.

All care providers must have an effective and accessible system for identifying, receiving, handling, and responding to complaints from people using the service or people acting on their behalf. The Care Quality Commission monitors providers’ compliance with this duty as part of their routine inspection of providers.

Baroness Casey has made clear that one of the core purposes of the ‘Big Conversation on Care’ that she is leading, is to hear from all individuals and families with first-hand experience of the current social care system, so she can reflect their views in her recommendations for reform. That will include the concerns raised about the handling of complaints by adult social care providers, and the underlying issues that are resulting in those complaints. The Government will wait for the outcome of Baroness Casey’s review before considering next steps.