Complaints about adult social care in Kensington and Chelsea have risen by 51% in a year, from 67 to 103, with problems including late carer arrivals and poor communication.
The figures are in the Adult Social Care Annual Complaints Report for 2025/26, presented to the Adult Social Care & Health Select Committee. Despite the increase, 92% of complaints were responded to within the council’s target of 10 working days, even during a period affected by a cyber incident.
The rise is attributed to several factors, including an increasing elderly population, with the 85+ age group continuing to grow. Increased accessibility, partly supported by AI, has also made the complaints process easier, with more people feeling comfortable making complaints due to greater awareness and understanding of the process. The increase in complaints is being monitored alongside safeguarding referrals.
The main issues leading to complaints were quality of service (36%) and communication (21%). Complaints concerning care and assessment services were the most frequent, accounting for 38 complaints or 37% of the total. Specific issues within 'quality of service' include late carer arrivals and dissatisfaction with social worker conduct, as well as problems with invoicing, direct payments, and the provision or suitability of equipment. Complaints about Occupational Therapy and Homecare services increased, now accounting for 18% and 20% of all complaints respectively.
Increased complaints about Occupational Therapy are mainly due to communication issues and disagreements over assessment results. Homecare complaints have risen due to issues with the timeliness of care visits, non-adherence to care plans, and communication problems between homecare providers, service users, and their families.
Of the complaints received, 25% were fully upheld and 21% were partially upheld. The report noted that when complaints were upheld, the council provided apologies, outlined steps for service improvement, and addressed communication shortcomings. One Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) investigation was upheld due to delays in completing a resident's assessment; consequently, the council issued a formal apology and provided a remedy payment. A second LGSCO investigation was upheld as the provider did not adhere correctly to its no-reply policy; in this instance, the council likewise issued an apology and a remedy payment.
In addition to complaints, the council received 40 compliments for its adult social care services in 2025/26, a slight increase from the previous year. The report also detailed that three cases progressed to a full investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), with two of these being upheld.
The cyber incident temporarily disrupted access to Mosaic case records for adult social care teams. Eight complaints exceeded the 10-working-day response timeframe due to the cyber incident and case complexity. Despite this impact, the overall complaints process was not adversely impacted, and annual performance targets were still exceeded.
Looking ahead, priorities for 2026/27 include strengthening links between complaints, safeguarding, and quality assurance. The Customer Engagement Team is located within the same division as the Safeguarding, Quality Assurance, and Learning and Development teams. A focus will be placed on ensuring learning from complaints results in measurable improvements in practice and service delivery. Exploring the use of artificial intelligence to analyse complaint themes is also a priority for 2026/27 to support timely responses. While AI increases the accessibility of the complaints process, a challenge is the increased volume of detailed complaints that require review.
During the meeting, councillors discussed the reasons for the rise in complaints, with suggestions including increased accessibility of the complaints process and a growing elderly population. During a discussion of the annual complaints report, an officer stated that the ethnic profile of those making complaints mirrored that of the service users.
