Complaints about children and families social care

This information is for children, young people and adults who have a complaint to make about children and families social care.

You may be in a children’s home, with foster carers, at supported lodgings, in respite care, helped and supported by social care or a parent, carer or relative.

You have the right to complain about anything that makes you unhappy, upset or angry. It’s OK to complain, you won’t get into any trouble.

That might be:

• feeling that your race, culture, religion or sexuality is not being respected
• being moved from where you live without anyone talking to you about it
• being bullied
• feeling uncared for
• being touched in a way that feels wrong
• having no say in important decisions about your life, or your child’s
• our staff’s attitude or behaviour
• anything to do with the way social care looks after you or your child

You can contact us in the following ways.

• by phone on 023 9284 1172
• in person by making an appointment on the above number
• by writing to The Complaints Manager for Social Care, Portsmouth City Council, 5th Floor, Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, PO1 2EP
• by using our pre-paid comments, compliments and complaints form, Your Shout! which can be obtained by calling the above number or by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page
• by sending an email to csccomplaints@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
• by telling your advocate what the problem is

Stage 1 response: We will try to resolve your issues quickly. If we need more information from you, the Complaints Manager will write to you within 5 working days to confirm we’ve received your complaint and explain how we plan to investigate. We may also call you or invite you to a meeting to help sort things out.

Our complaints process aims to resolve issues quickly and fairly. Sometimes it may take longer, and we will let you know how long it will take.

Under national complaints guidance, we are usually unable to accept complaints until legal proceedings have finished, or if the complaints are about events that happened over a year ago.

Please contact the manager or the Complaints Manager right away. We can look for other ways to resolve the issue.

Stage 2 response: This may include a meeting to discuss your concerns. We may follow our statutory complaints procedure and ask an independent person to investigate further. If this happens, the investigator will first meet you to discuss your concerns and then speak to the staff. The investigator will write a report about what they found and may suggest how we can resolve the issue.

Stage 3 response: If you are not happy with the independent person’s investigation, it may be possible to arrange for a review panel to look at the investigator’s work in Stage 2.

Under our Corporate Complaints process, if you’re not happy with the Stage 1 response, your complaint will be reviewed by our Director at Stage 2.

The Complaints Manager can advise which process your complaint will come under: Statutory, or our Corporate Complaints Policy.

If you are a child or young person under 25 years old and need help to make a complaint, please contact our About ME Advocacy service at 023 9260 6392, or Advocacy@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

If you are an adult making a complaint about children’s services and need help, please contact the complaints manager. They can help you find an advocacy agency.  You can also contact Citizens Advice Portsmouth at 02394 006600 or visit the Citizens Advice Portsmouth website.

If you’re still dissatisfied, you can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at any time. However, they usually expect you to complete our complaints process first.

Contact details:

• call 0300 061 0614
• write to them at PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 0EH

Find out more about how to contact them on the Local Government Ombudsman website.

Comment, compliment or complaint leaflet for children supported by social care