Care Home Complaints Procedures: CQC Requirements and Best Practice

This guide provides general information on complaints handling in care homes. It does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations involving safeguarding, litigation, or regulatory proceedings, seek independent legal or professional guidance. References are current as of the last reviewed date above; verify against legislation.gov.uk and CQC's guidance on complaints for the latest position.

A complaint from a resident or their family is not a failure. It is information — often the most direct signal you will get about what needs fixing. Yet many care home managers treat complaints as threats rather than data. CQC takes the opposite view. Under the single assessment framework, how you receive, record, and respond to complaints is a direct measure of whether your service is responsive and well-led.

The Legal Basis: Regulation 16

Regulation 16 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires registered persons to:

Establish and operate a complaints system for identifying, receiving, recording, handling, and responding to complaints.
Not require complaints be made in any particular form — verbal complaints count.
Investigate each complaint thoroughly.
Take necessary and proportionate action in response to any failure identified.
Provide a written response setting out findings, whether the complaint was upheld, and actions taken or to be taken.
Not victimise anyone who makes a complaint.

The regulation does not prescribe a specific timeframe, but CQC guidance and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman both reference 3 working days for acknowledgement and 25 working days for a full written response as reasonable benchmarks.

What CQC Inspectors Look For

Complaints handling falls primarily under the Responsive key question, but also feeds into Well-Led (governance and learning) and Safe (acting on risk). Inspectors will typically:

Ask residents and families whether they know how to complain and feel safe doing so
Review your complaints log — volume, themes, response times, and outcomes
Check that verbal complaints are captured, not just formal written ones
Look for evidence of learning — did a complaint lead to a change in practice?
Examine whether complainants received a written response with clear findings

A care home that has recorded zero complaints over 12 months is not impressive — it is suspicious. CQC has stated explicitly that an absence of complaints may indicate people do not feel able to raise concerns.

Building Your Complaints Policy

Your policy needs to be clear, specific, and genuinely used. At minimum, include:

Scope and definition — What counts as a complaint versus a day-to-day request. Make clear complaints can be verbal, written, by email, or via a representative.
How to complain — Name the contact person (typically the registered manager), with telephone, email, and postal address. Include the right to complain directly to CQC or the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Timescales — Acknowledgement target (3 working days) and investigation target (25 working days, with written explanation if longer).
Investigation process — Who investigates (not the person complained about), how the complainant is kept informed, and how findings are communicated.
Escalation — What happens if the complainant is not satisfied, including the Ombudsman route.
Anti-victimisation statement — No one will be treated differently for raising a concern.

Display an accessible summary in communal areas and include it in the welcome pack. Make it available in formats appropriate to your residents — large print, easy read, or translated.

For more on how CQC structures its assessment, see our complete guide to CQC compliance for small care homes.

Recording Complaints Properly

A complaints log is not optional. Each entry should capture:

Date received and date acknowledged
Who complained (name and relationship to resident)
How received (verbal, written, email, third party)
Summary in the complainant's own words where possible
Named investigator and investigation start date
Findings and whether upheld, partially upheld, or not upheld
Actions taken with responsible person and completion date
Date of written response
Whether the complainant was satisfied
Any escalation to the Ombudsman or CQC

Use a single, central log — not multiple systems — to prevent things falling through gaps.

Responding: Getting the Tone Right

The written response is often the document CQC will read. A good response:

Acknowledges the concern without being defensive
Sets out what you investigated — who you spoke to, what records you reviewed
States findings clearly — no hedging or vague language
Explains actions taken or to be taken, with dates
Apologises where appropriate — an apology is not an admission of liability (Compensation Act 2006, section 2)
Reminds the complainant of their right to escalate

Avoid template responses. The complainant should see that their specific concern was investigated.

Using Complaints as Evidence of Improvement

CQC does not penalise you for receiving complaints — it penalises you for not learning from them. Quarterly analysis of your complaints log can reveal:

Recurring themes — Multiple complaints about food quality, call bell response times, or communication with families?
Patterns — Complaints concentrated around specific shifts or staff groups?
Trends — Volume increasing or decreasing? Response times improving?

Present this analysis at governance meetings. Record the discussion and resulting actions. If you changed a practice because of a complaint — say, adjusted medication rounds after a family raised concerns about timing — document the complaint, investigation, decision, and outcome. That chain of evidence is gold for CQC.

For more on how quality statements feed into assessments, see our guide to CQC quality statements explained.

Common Mistakes

Only recording formal written complaints — Regulation 16 covers verbal complaints too. Train staff to recognise and escalate verbal concerns.
No written response — Even if you resolve a complaint by conversation, confirm the outcome in writing.
Defensive language — "We followed our policy" without further explanation reads as dismissive to both complainants and CQC.
Investigator is the subject — If a complaint relates to a specific staff member, someone else must investigate.

Escalating to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

If a complainant is not satisfied after your internal investigation, they have the right to escalate to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). This is the independent body that investigates complaints about adult social care providers in England, including care homes.

When the Ombudsman gets involved:

The complainant has completed (or been offered) the provider's complaints process
The complaint is about the care provided, not purely a regulatory matter (CQC handles those)
The Ombudsman can investigate even if CQC has not

What the Ombudsman can do:

Investigate the complaint independently, requesting records and interviewing staff
Issue findings of fault or maladministration
Recommend remedies including apologies, changes to practice, and financial compensation
Publish investigation reports (anonymised) that become public record

What you should do as a provider:

Ensure your complaints policy clearly states the Ombudsman as the external escalation route, with contact details: www.lgo.org.uk / 0300 061 0614
Cooperate fully with any Ombudsman investigation — obstruction is itself a finding
Treat Ombudsman recommendations as equivalent to must-do actions: implement them, evidence the change, and report back within the specified timeframe
Log Ombudsman complaints separately and discuss at governance meetings

CQC assessors may check whether you have had Ombudsman complaints and what you did in response. A home that receives an Ombudsman finding, implements the recommendations promptly, and can evidence the resulting improvement demonstrates exactly the kind of responsive governance that supports a Good rating.

Quick Audit Checklist

Written complaints policy in place and reviewed within the last 12 months
Policy displayed in communal areas and included in welcome packs
Central complaints log capturing all fields listed above
Verbal complaints recorded, not just written ones
Acknowledgement within 3 working days
Written response provided within 25 working days
Escalation route to the Ombudsman clearly stated
Quarterly analysis of complaints themes at governance meetings
Evidence of practice changes resulting from complaints

Complaints handling is one of the clearest windows CQC has into your culture. A care home that welcomes complaints, investigates them honestly, and changes as a result is genuinely responsive — and that is exactly what the rating reflects.