Appeal a decision about your care

If you are unhappy with a decision regarding your care needs, you have the right to appeal and ask for that decision to be looked at again.

An appeal must be registered within 12 months of the decision being made. Please let us know if you are unable to raise your appeal in time as we may be able to help in exceptional circumstances.

How to appeal

You will need to explain why you are unhappy with the decision and provide as much detail as possible.

You can appeal by:

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 0300 126 3000
Write to us:

Complaints
North Northamptonshire Council
Sheerness House
41 Meadow Road
Kettering
Northamptonshire
NN16 8TL

Once you have appealed, the decision will be reviewed within 30 working days. During this period your current care and support plan should remain unaffected until a decision has been reached. We will always discuss any changes with you first. In some cases, it may be necessary for us to extend to allow for further information to be requested or for a re-assessment or review of your care to take place.

Stages of appeal

An appeal consists of 3 stages.

Stage 1 - Review the decision

The team manager of the service responsible for your care management will look at the situation to see if an appeal is appropriate.

If an appeal is considered to be the best way forward, a member of the management team will look at how the decision was made within 30 working days from receiving your appeal.

We will discuss with you the possibility of extending the deadline if more time is needed. They will check that all relevant information was considered during the assessment of your needs and ensure that you were treated fairly when a decision was made. The result of the review will be sent to you in writing by the responding manager.

Stage 2 - Independent review

If you are not happy with the result of the stage one review decision you may wish to take your appeal to the next step, this must be done within 10 working days.

An independent manager will be asked to undertake a review of your case within 30 working days of the request being received.

This is a manager who is independent of the team responsible for your care and has not been involved in any decisions about your care.

They will contact you and any other interested parties to understand your appeal. Their role is to consider all of the evidence available to assess whether the decision has been reached fairly and in accordance with local and national guidelines. The result of this investigation will be sent in writing to you by the independent reviewing manager.

Stage 3 - Final decision

We will make a decision considering the independent reviewer’s recommendations. The independent reviewer's outcome and recommendations will be shared with a senior manager. The senior manager will send you a final decision summary, detailing any adjustments or changes that are required to your care and/or financial arrangements within 30 working days.

This is the final stage of the appeals procedure. If you are still unhappy you can then approach the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Service to consider your case:

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH

Telephone: 0300 061 0614

Visit the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for more information and to complete an online complaint form.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

Last updated 27 January 2023