Public Services Ombudsman Wales: How to Complain About Care

Something has gone wrong with your parent's care and the provider isn't fixing it. Maybe the care home isn't delivering what they promised, or social services refused an assessment they should have granted, or the NHS discharged your parent before they were ready. When internal complaints fail, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) is the independent body that investigates.

When to Use the Ombudsman

The PSOW investigates complaints about public services in Wales — including local authority social services, NHS health boards, and care homes providing publicly funded care. You should consider the Ombudsman when:

• You've already complained directly to the organisation and their response was unsatisfactory
• The complaint involves a failure in the standard of service, a failure to act, or maladministration
• The issue happened within the last 12 months (though the Ombudsman can extend this in exceptional circumstances)

Common care-related complaints include: unreasonable delays in care needs assessments, incorrect financial assessments that overcharged your parent, poor quality care in a home, inadequate hospital discharge planning, and failure to provide services identified in a care and support plan.

The Complaints Process

Step 1 — Complain to the organisation first. Every council, health board, and registered care provider in Wales must have a formal complaints procedure. In social services, this follows the statutory two-stage process: Stage 1 is local resolution within 15 working days; Stage 2 is an independent investigation if Stage 1 doesn't resolve it.

Step 2 — Contact the PSOW. If the organisation's process hasn't resolved your complaint, contact the Ombudsman's office. You can submit a complaint online, by phone, or by post. The Ombudsman will assess whether the complaint falls within their jurisdiction and whether there's enough evidence to investigate.

Step 3 — Investigation. If the Ombudsman accepts the complaint, they'll gather evidence from both sides, review records, and may interview staff and family members. Investigations typically take 3 to 6 months for straightforward cases, longer for complex multi-agency complaints.

Step 4 — Decision. The Ombudsman publishes findings and can recommend remedial action: apologies, policy changes, staff training, and financial redress. While the Ombudsman cannot legally enforce recommendations, compliance rates are high because non-compliance is reported to the Senedd.

Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) vs the Ombudsman

CIW and the PSOW serve different functions:

• CIW regulates care providers — inspecting standards, enforcing registration conditions, and publishing ratings. Report safeguarding concerns or serious quality failures to CIW.
• The Ombudsman investigates individual complaints about how a public body handled a specific situation. Use the Ombudsman when your complaint is about how the system treated your parent, not just whether a provider meets minimum standards.

If your complaint involves both — for example, a council that ignored CIW inspection findings when placing your parent — you may need to engage both bodies.

Practical Tips

Document everything from the start. Keep a dated log of phone calls, emails, and incidents. Save copies of care plans, financial assessments, and any correspondence with the council or provider.

If your parent lacks capacity to make the complaint themselves, you can complain on their behalf as their representative — particularly if you hold a lasting power of attorney for health and welfare.

For help structuring a complaint and understanding your options when things go wrong with care in Wales, the Wales Elder Care Guide includes complaint templates and a step-by-step escalation process.

See more Wales guides →