Text for referring someone to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

We have now completed our consideration of your [complaint/ appeal/ case/ review request] (delete as appropriate).

This is our final position, based on the information we have.

You can now ask the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (the Ombudsman) to review your complaint. You usually have up to 12 months to do this, starting from the date you first knew about the matter you complained about, not from the date of this letter. The Ombudsman will normally only consider complaints made within that time but can decide to look at older complaints if there is a good reason to do so.

The Ombudsman looks at individual complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing local public services. It investigates matters fairly and impartially and is free to use.

There are some matters the Ombudsman cannot or will not investigate. In these cases it will explain clearly the reason for its decision.

The Ombudsman’s contact details are below. You will need to provide it with a copy of this letter, and our earlier responses to you, so it can consider your complaint.

Website: www.lgo.org.uk

Telephone: 0300 061 0614

Opening hours: Monday to Friday - 10am to 4pm (except public holidays)

You can also download a version of this wording in Easy Read (pictures and words) format.