Care providers across England are being urged to ensure their complaints processes meet basic standards, after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found a medium-sized provider had no procedure when investigating a family’s complaint.

The resident’s son complained Park Homes (UK) Limited applied a 30 per cent increase in fees without notice in April 2023.

Despite the son chasing multiple times, it took the provider – which has care homes across England and Scotland – until August to acknowledge his contact.

The resident died in October 2023, but by March 2024 the provider still had not refunded the fees and so the family could not settle the estate. The family complained to the Ombudsman the same month.

By November the same year, the provider agreed to refund the resident’s account, but this was not paid till the end of January 2025.

The Ombudsman’s investigation was hampered by similar prolonged delays from the provider, and it was not until February 2025 that it sent a substantive response to the Ombudsman’s enquiries, after a witness summons was threatened.

Ms Amerdeep Somal, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:

“This family experienced poor service at a difficult time, with the loss of their loved one. Our investigation suggests that the provider does not have a proper complaints procedure. I am shocked that a provider of this size does not have something so fundamental as a formal process for managing and responding to people’s concerns.

“Not only is this a potential breach of the Health and Social Care Act regulations, but it demonstrates a lack of desire to listen to residents and their families and take on board the invaluable feedback and learning concerns and complaints can provide.

“This provider needs to take a serious look at the way it manages its complaints process to ensure it complies with the regulations, and with good practice and put in place a proper complaints procedure to respond to people’s concerns.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman remedies injustice and shares learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case the provider should apologise to the family and pay them a combined £800 for the stress and frustration caused by its poor complaints response.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve processes. In this case the provider should review its complaint handling and establish a proper complaint process which should be made freely available to residents and relatives or other interested parties. It should also ensure its processes for increasing fees align with the regulations and Competition and Markets Authority guidance.

Article date: 31 July 2025