When care is delayed, missing or suddenly stops — Easy Read

Get urgent help first

Call 999 if there is immediate danger or a life-threatening emergency. For an urgent medical problem that is not life-threatening, use NHS 111. Missing support can also be an urgent social care problem: for example, you cannot get food, use the toilet or get safely out of bed. Explain the actual risk and when help is needed. A routine complaint is not an emergency response.

Tell the provider and the person arranging care

Call the provider’s office or on-call number if a worker has not arrived or cannot provide the agreed help. Ask when a suitable replacement will come. Tell the council team or NHS team that arranges and funds the service too. If you employ a personal assistant, use your backup plan and contact the direct payments support team. Do not assume another person has reported the problem.

Contact social care directly if help is not coming

Ask the council’s adult social care team for an urgent response. At night or weekends, use its emergency or out-of-hours social care number. You can make contact without permission from the provider. Say where you are, what help is missing, what could happen and whether anybody can safely help meanwhile. Ask for the name of the person dealing with it and when you will hear back.

Explain a delayed assessment or a worsening situation

Ask for a Care Act needs assessment if you do not have one, or a review if your needs or support have changed. The council must assess when it appears you may need care and support, regardless of your finances. Describe changes since your first request. Assessments should happen within an appropriate, reasonable timescale reflecting urgency. Ask for the expected date and what will happen while you wait; there is no single fixed national deadline for every adult assessment.

Ask about support before the full assessment is finished

Under section 19(3) of the Care Act, a council can meet needs that appear urgent before completing the needs assessment, financial assessment or eligibility decision. It can do this even if ordinary residence has not been resolved. This is a power to act, not a promise that every requested arrangement must be funded. Existing duties may also apply. Ask the council to consider your urgent needs, give reasons for its response and explain any proposed charge.

If the care business fails

A separate temporary duty can apply under section 48 when a registered care provider cannot continue a regulated activity because of business failure. The council where that activity was being provided must meet the interrupted needs for as long as it considers necessary. This can protect people paying privately or through direct payments as well as council-funded residents. It is not a guarantee of free care or the same workers. Staff shortages, poor service and a planned closure are not automatically business failure; other care duties and urgent powers may still matter.

Be clear about family and unpaid carers

Tell the council what relatives or friends are willing and able to do, and for how long. Do not describe temporary emergency help as a permanent agreement. A person should not be expected to carry out unsafe lifting, clinical tasks they cannot do or unlimited care because they are nearby. If an unpaid carer is ill, exhausted or unavailable, ask for replacement support and a carer’s assessment or review.

Ask for accessible help and advocacy

You can ask someone you choose to help, but you do not need a family member before contacting social care. Explain your communication needs. Ask about independent Care Act advocacy if you have substantial difficulty taking part in an assessment, plan or review and no appropriate person to help. Tell the council if your usual supporter cannot help, has a conflict or is the person causing concern. Do not wait for an advocate before reporting urgent unmet needs.

Agree a practical interim plan

Ask who will provide each essential task, when support will start, how workers will know your communication and care plans, and who to contact if it fails. Include necessary equipment, food, medicines support and overnight needs. Ask the responsible health professional for advice about clinical tasks or missed medicines; do not guess. Record what has actually been agreed. An offer of temporary help does not resolve every concern about the longer-term plan.

Keep a short record and check charges

Record the planned visit, what happened, help missed, effect on you, who you contacted and the reply. Keep messages and relevant bills. Ask for missing care records or an explanation of incorrect entries. If you were charged for support not delivered, ask the provider or council to explain the charge and consider a correction or refund. Do not assume compensation is automatic or stop paying unrelated bills without advice.

Escalate continuing risks

If nobody acts, contact the duty manager and explain the unresolved risk and previous calls. Ask for a written response and safe arrangements now. Raise a safeguarding concern if neglect or abuse may be involved; this can run alongside a complaint. The council or provider’s complaints process can address service failures. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman can consider eligible adult care complaints, including privately arranged care. CQC receives information about unsafe regulated services but does not resolve individual complaints.

Get legal advice when the matter cannot wait

Seek a solicitor with community care experience if essential care is being withheld, a move is imminent or an urgent legal challenge may be needed. Say what is due to happen and when. Ask about legal aid and accessible communication. A complaint, referral or first enquiry does not itself stop a decision or protect a legal deadline. The linked solicitor and advocacy guides explain different kinds of help.

When your care does not arrive

Missing help matters

An emergency

Call the care provider

Ask social care for urgent help

If an assessment is delayed

Ask for help while you wait

If the care company closes

Family may be unable to help

Help to be heard

Agree the next steps

Keep a short record

If nothing improves

What you can do next

More useful links