THIS ISNT VERY TYPICAL IM AFRAID - OBSERVING COMMUNITY CARE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURES

The new complaints procedures which local authority social services de partments have been required to introduce represent an important mecha nism for managing the change of culture associated with recent communi ty care reforms. They also represent a new genre in mechanisms of redr ess for welfare recipients. This paper reports the findings of a study which has observed considerable diversity in the ways in which local authorities are interpreting the nature and purposes of the new proced ures and, in particular, the functions of review panels established un der those procedures. Variations in the composition of panels, in the style of review panel proceedings, in perceptions of the panels' power s, and in the ways that complaints and complainants are constituted ar e all discussed. Attention is drawn to four competing interpretations of the review panels' role and to the need for these to be clarified a nd prioritised.