www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Complaints (Stage 3 of the Adult Social Care Complaints Procedure)
Fact Sheet No: FS18
Name of Service: Complaints (Stage 3 of the Adult Social Care Complaints Procedure)
Abbreviation:
Service Type:
Summary of Service
The third stage of the Department of Community Services Complaints Procedure is a review of the Department’s response to your complaint by a review panel.
Details of Service
- If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive from the Head of Adult Social Services at the end of Stage 2 of the Complaints Procedure you should write to the Complaints Manager within 20 working days to request a Stage 3 Review Panel. Please give the reasons that you are not happy with the response that you received. The purpose of the Panel is to consider your complaint in an open and problem-solving manner so that wherever possible matters can be resolved.
- The Complaints Manager will aim to acknowledge your request to go to Stage 3, in writing within 2 working days.
- Within 10 working days of receiving your complaint the Complaints Manager will appoint an independent person to chair the Panel and in consultation with the Chair will then appoint two further panel members, at least one of whom will also be independent.
- A date for the Panel will need to be arranged. The meeting should be within 30 working days of your request for a review being received and allow for all the parties concerned to have at least 10 working days notice of the meeting unless a shorter period of notice is agreed. Coordinating the meeting within the time allowed is not always straightforward but we will do all that we can to make sure that the Panel takes place at a time that is as convenient for you as possible if you wish to be there.
- The Clerk to the Panel will send you an invitation to the review meeting with details of how it will be structured and who will be there.
- You can submit comments to the Panel members before the meeting by sending them to the Clerk. The Clerk will send Panel papers to everyone attending the meeting as soon as they have been agreed by the Chair and no later than 10 working days before the date of the Panel.
- The Chair should make the final decision on circulating any further written material to the other attendees less than 10 working days before the Panel meeting.
- If you lodge any complaint on the day, about the proceedings, it should be recorded and the Panel should take a view on the need for further action and record their decision.
Who will be at the Panel?
- The Panel itself is made up of three people and at least two of them must be independent of the County Council. The members of the Panel should act in an objective, impartial and fair manner at all times. They are expected to protect the rights of all those attending the Panel. The Panel will have to be adjourned if for any reason all three members can not be present for the entire meeting.
- You will be invited to the Panel and can bring someone with you; they can speak on your behalf if you want them to. This person could be someone like a friend, family member or advocate, however, the Panel is not a quasi-judicial process and this person should not be a barrister or solicitor acting in a professional capacity. If you choose not to come to the meeting you may decide to make a written statement to the Panel.
- Please contact the Complaints Manager if you have any concerns about attending the Panel, for example if you need support from an interpreter or advocate or you have particular needs that should be considered such as communication or mobility needs.
- The Panel can proceed without you being present if you have requested that it do so, or you fail to attend a scheduled Panel on more than one occasion.
- With the Panel’s agreement you may also ask other people to speak as witnesses at the meeting but they will normally only be allowed to be present for that part of the meeting to which their submission relates.
- The person who investigated your complaint at Stage 2 of the procedure will, where possible, attend the Panel.
- The Adjudicating Officer should attend as the County Council’s representative, if they have rejected any of the Investigating Officer’s findings at Stage 2. Where they have accepted all of the findings, it is usually acceptable for them to delegate responsibility for representing the County Council to another senior manager.
- The Chair will make the final decision as to who should be present at the meeting (including asking the County Council to make specific members of staff available to provide specialist advice or opinion).
- The Complaints Manager and the Clerk will also attend the Panel.
- If any party fails to attend and no reason is given for their absence, the Panel may either hear the complaint in their absence or adjourn.
What will happen at the Review Panel?
The Panel will be conducted as informally as possible but in a professional manner and structured in to three parts:
1. A pre-meeting for the Panellists and their administrative support (Complaints Manager and Clerk). No deliberations on the complaint should commence at this meeting, it is to discuss the order of business.
2. Presentations – the Chair will give an introduction outlining everyone’s roles and responsibilities and answering any questions about the process that you might have. They will remind all present of Panel’s focus on the agreed complaint and your desired outcomes.
The Complaints Manager will be asked to introduce your complaint and give a summary of the events leading to the review. If they have written a report for the Panel they may be asked questions about this
You will be asked if you would like to speak about your complaint and the Panel may ask you questions to get a better understanding of the situation.
The Department of Community Services will be asked to give their view of the complaint and the Panel may ask further questions.
The other people present should also have the opportunity to ask questions.
3. The Panel will then deliberate in private.
Confidentiality - All complaints will be heard in private and the note of the proceedings will not be public.
Decision of the Review Panel
- The recommendations of the Review Panel and the reasons for them will be recorded in writing and will be sent to you and anyone acting on your behalf. The Director of Community Services, the Community Services’ representative(s) who attended the hearing, the Cabinet member responsible for Community Services and the Complaints Manager will also receive a copy. This should take no more than 5 working days.
- If a Panel member disagrees with the majority recommendation, the decision letter will record that member’s view and the reason for it.
Action after the Hearing
- Within 15 days of the date of being notified of the Panel’s recommendation, the Director of Community Services on behalf of the County Council is required to consider what action the Council ought to take and to notify you, and any other person involved, of its decision, the reasons for taking that decision and of any action which it has taken or proposes to take. This information will be copied to the Cabinet member responsible for Community Services and the Complaints Manager.
This completes the Complaints procedure for the Department of Community Services. If you are still not satisfied with the response that you have received you can approach the Local Government Ombudsman to look into the matter.
Local Government Ombudsman
The Oaks No. 2
Westwood Way
Westwood Business Park
Coventry
CV4 8JB
Phone: 024 7682 0000
Fax: 024 7682 0001
Email: enquiries.coventry@lgo.org.uk
You can also visit their website at www.lgo.org.uk
Or call their advice line: Lo-call 0845 602 1983
How and when can you contact us?
Adult Care Complaints Manager:
By Telephone:
01225 713953
By Fax:
01225 713953
By Email:
socialservices@wiltshire.gov.uk
Or contact the Social Care Help Desk:
By Telephone:
01225 713001
By Fax:
01225 713355
By Email:
socialcarehelpdesk@wiltshire.gov.uk
Weekdays:
Monday – Thursday - 08:30 – 17:20
Friday - 08:30 – 16:20
If you need urgent help outside of these hours, you can call the Emergency Duty Service on 0845 60 70 888
For more information you can either:
- Contact the Social Care Help Desk 01225 713001, or
- Visit the Wiltshire County Council website www.wiltshire.gov.uk/factsheets
This Fact Sheet can be produced, on request, in other formats and languages. Please contact the Social Care Help Desk on 01225 713001.
