Councils have been urged by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) to enhance the quality of end life care.

In the new LGSCO report, titled ‘No Second Chances: What Complaints Teach Us About End of Life Care’, councils and care homes are encouraged to provide better support for people in need of end of life care, as well as ensuring that their families are treated with respect.

It highlights that families are entitled to expect ‘clear, honest communication’, warmth, and sensitivity when receiving news about changes to a loved one’s condition or being notified of their passing.

Compassion should be prioritised when delivering the news of a family member’s death, it emphasises, with practical matters to be addressed only once relatives have had time to respond.

The report offers practical tips for councils and care home workers to help them improve end of life care, as well as outlining the most common complaints – including a lack of coordination between services, the care not feeling personal enough, failures with communication and care plans, insensitivity around death notifications, challenges with visiting, and unfair charges following a death.

As part of its basic recommendations, it advises communicating with warmth and clarity, providing the fundamental care standards, urging care staff to request help swiftly if unsure about something, and abiding by the law, guidance, and organisational policies.

Amerdeep Clarke, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: ‘Most of us will face the death of someone we love. How that experience unfolds – whether we feel informed, included and treated with kindness, or left confused and shut out – becomes part of how we remember that person and how we grieve them. Those memories do not fade.’

She added: ‘The changes we are asking for do not require significant new investment. They require compassion, good planning, and a genuine commitment to treating every dying person as a human being with people who love them. There is only one chance to get this right. We want to help the sector take it.’