Nearly 100 complaints have been made about the provision of adult social care in Reading over one year, according to statistics.

The council has a duty to provide care for the elderly and adults with physical and mental disabilities.

Each year, the amount of complaints about how social care is conducted is reported to Reading Borough Council’s adult social care, children’s services and education committee.

Statistics from 2022/23 show that a total of 99 complaints about adult social care were filed.

These complaints are broken down into statutory complaints, of which 89 were submitted and corporate complaints, of which 10 were submitted.

Of the statutory complaints 40 were submitted because a person had an issue with the quality of service provided, with issues of staff conduct and communication both eliciting 12 complaints.

Meanwhile, lack of support and issues with policies and procedures both elicited seven complaints, with one complaint being levelled due to a data breach.

One of the 89 statutory complaints received was withdrawn by the complainant, therefore 88 were investigated.

In more than a third of the cases (35.2 per cent) the complaint was not upheld by the council’s adult social care department.

The complaint was not upheld in 31 cases, upheld in 28 cases and there were multiple outcomes in 16 of the complaints filed.

While the amounts of corporate complaints nearly halved from 18 from the previous year to 10 in 2022/23, the number of statutory complaints investigated more than doubled from 43 in 2021/22 to 88 in 2022/23.

In both instances for 2022/23, more complaints were not upheld.

The actual amount of complaints issued in 2021/22 was higher at 93, but of those, 43 were formally investigated, as reflected in the table above.

For corporate complaints, issues with policies and procedures, the quality of service provided and staff conduct led to three complaints each, with one person complaining about an alleged communication breakdown.

A complaint can be made verbally to a social worker or manager, emailing  Socialcare.Complaints@reading.gov.uk. or calling the council’s customer relations team on 0118 937 2905.

If a person is unhappy with the result of a complaint, they can ask for the local government and social care ombudsman (LGO) to investigate it.

An LGO investigation can begin by filling out an online complaint form.

In 2022/23, the LGO received five representations from those dissatisfied with adult care and health services provided.

Of those, four cases were investigated with the LGO finding fault in the council’s service, with the other case being assessed but not investigated further.

A report on the adult social care complaints will presented to the council’s adult social care, children’s services and education committee on Wednesday, January 17.