BASW England Initial Response: Report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission finds the system for challenging social care decisions is failing those who need it.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission have today published a report showing adults receiving social care in England and Wales are being failed if they try to challenge decisions made by local authorities.

BASW England Response

This inquiry into the experiences of social care users and carers who have challenged decisions made by local authorities, found that local authority processes are confusing and slow, that people weren’t always able to challenge professional judgements e.g., the number of hours of care to be provided, and that complaints sometimes only focused on whether the assessment or other processes were carried out correctly.

They have identified a lot of good practice, but to ensure there is a consistent standard they have recommended that local authorities:

  • consider and resolve complaints within well-defined timescales, particularly when someone may not have the right care and support
  • consider the substance or outcome of decisions, as well as the processes followed
  • require complaint decision makers to be robustly and visibly independent, to support trust and accountability, and
  • provide clarity about the different routes of redress available to those using (or trying to use) adult social care, including early signposting to information on legal help, legal aid and legal specialists.

Other recommendations include:

  • bringing advocacy for adult social care complaints in England in line with the existing statutory entitlement for the health sector i.e., a statutory right to social care complaints advocacy for all
  • improving the collection, analysis and reporting of social care users’ equality data and ensuring complaints intelligence and learning is central to wider sector-led improvement.

BASW England will be looking at the findings and recommendations and how to take these forward, alongside those contained in other key social care reports published recently: “Care and Support Reimagined” (published by the Church of England) and the House of Lords Adult social care committee report “A Gloriously ordinary life” which proposes an independent review of the Care Act.

**************************

The full report is available to read here.