We can investigate complaints about adult social care arranged privately with a care provider, whether paid for with private money or Direct Payments from a council. This fact sheet deals with complaints to care providers about privately arranged adult social care. We have a separate fact sheet for complaints about adult care services generally and one like this for council arranged services.

I want to complain to the Ombudsman, so why do I need to go to the care provider?

Before investigating a complaint we must be sure the care provider (the company that runs the care home or home care service) knows about the complaint and has had a chance to investigate and reply to it.

What is the care provider’s complaints procedure?

By law care providers must have a complaints procedures according to the Care Quality Commission’s standards. 

Where can I get details of the care provider’s complaints procedure?

If the care provider has a website, this is the best place to look, or you can telephone it and ask for a copy or ask a member of staff.

How long will the care provider’s procedure take?

The care provider’s policy should say how long it will take to respond. In some cases it may take longer and the provider should keep you updated of the progress of your complaint.

If your complaint is not making any progress you can follow our top tips for making a complaint to find out what is happening.

If you complained more than 16 weeks ago, and you have not received a final response, we may be able to make enquiries as to the status of your complaint. We would expect you to have followed our top tips for making a complaint before contacting us about any delay.

I have heard nothing from the care provider. What should I do?

You should contact the care provider and ask them to explain what is happening with your complaint. See our top tips for making a complaint for advice about what to do when your complaint is stuck in the process.

What if the care provider doesn’t progress the complaint in a reasonable time?

The care provider should give you regular updates about how your complaint is progressing.

If this doesn’t happen, you should contact the care provider and ask them to explain what is happening with your complaint. See our top tips for making a complaint for advice about what to do when your complaint is stuck in the process.

Why must I allow the care provider to put my complaint through the complaints procedure when I know it will not change its decision?

The law says we must give care providers a chance to respond to complaints before we look at them.

Care providers generally say they will try to sort out complaints through their own complaints procedures and are generally able to  sort out any issues quickly. 

I think I will suffer lasting harm if you allow the care provider time to deal fully with the complaint. Why can’t the Ombudsman investigate the complaint now?

In rare cases we may investigate urgent complaints without giving the care provider an opportunity to deal with it themselves first. We only do this in exceptional cases. This is because the care provider is usually better able to sort out problems quickly. Our investigations take time and so coming directly to us rather than the provider may delay action to fix the problem. However, if you think we should treat your complaint as an exception, and you have not asked us already, please let us know.

My complaint is about the care provider’s plan to stop my place in the care home and I will have to move somewhere else. The care provider has told me this will happen soon, so if I have to wait some months before the Ombudsman investigates it’s likely I’ll have moved by then. 

Making a complaint to the care provider or to us won’t stop the care provider from going ahead with its plans. We don’t have the power to stop that from happening. If we find the provider was a fault for stopping your placement we can recommend it takes steps to remedy this for you.

What happens if I am still unhappy after the care provider has completed its response to my complaint?

For more information on how to complain, please read our step by step process.

July 2025