A statement from the Care Provider Alliance
"The CPA has welcomed the opportunity to provide early feedback to the CQC on the draft ratings characteristics. Key messages from our early review of the drafts we received at the time included a number of key themes.
In terms of how ratings judgements reflect compliance with the regulations, we believe it is vital that the CQC set out much more clearly where the boundaries for outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate lie; in particular, there is an unhelpful grey area between ‘good’ and ‘requires improvement’ and there is an important opportunity here for the ratings characteristics to provide further clarity in how these judgements are made and what evidence is being sought to enable those judgements. CPA also recommends that the CQC puts greater emphasis on the importance of real-world impacts on the lives of people who draw on care and support in the description of outstanding throughout the ratings characteristics.
Other feedback included the need to recognise the realities of the operating environment for providers – for example, the CQC need to find a way to recognise the role and realities of the adult social care commissioning landscape and the potential impact on the ability to deliver high quality, innovation and improvement where providers are limited by the funding, scope and extent of the care being commissioned. There is also a need to refine and clarify the language across the characteristics to better reflect the operating environment, for example, a prolific use of ‘always’ would be better defined as ‘routinely’. It would also be helpful to consider how to better define ‘best practice’ and there are instances in the ratings characteristics which mention that people/families/staff may ‘feel’ a particular way; we know that the CQC is keen to ensure an evidence-based approach, so it is important that the language used recognises the importance of these instances being aligned and triangulated with evidence, facts and events.
Our review of the ratings characteristics has reconfirmed our view that some of the KLOEs (formerly quality statements) remain problematic; for example, we recommend that reference to sustainability is removed from the social care framework entirely. It is not within the scope of the regulations and there are other frameworks imposed by other government departments which account for it (such as ESOS and SECR reporting requirements). And under ‘Timely and Equitable Access’ there are currently requirements which rely on wider system accessibility and responsiveness which providers cannot control, so the CPA has recommended that the ratings characteristics explicitly recognise the distinction between factors providers can control and those they can only influence."
 We have published a research report on good practice in health and social care services when caring for people living with a type of dementia. We commissioned this research as part of our dementia strategy. The research was carried out by IFF Research in partnership with Leeds Beckett University.
The report shows the findings of a review of good practice published by UK and worldwide universities and organisations in health and social care in supporting people with dementia. The review also included 3 discussion groups with experts, other regulators of health and social care, and people with lived experience of dementia or caring for someone with dementia.
The report highlights areas of good practice that help ensure people have a good experience of care and show how this can be achieved.
We will use the findings from this research to develop our dementia strategy and guidance, using conversations with people with lived experience, charities and support organisations, stakeholders with dementia expertise, and government – in line with the immediate recommendations on dementia made recently by the Casey Commission.
On 17 March, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published the outcome of its review of CQC Regulation 9A: visiting and accompanying in care homes, hospitals and hospices. Regulation 9A was introduced to help ensure that no one is denied reasonable access to visitors while they are a resident in a care home, or a patient in a hospital or hospice, and to ensure they can be accompanied to appointments by loved ones if they wish.
The review found that Regulation 9A has helped clarify expectations for providers and reinforced good practice, including empowering families to challenge inappropriate blanket bans. However, it also identified gaps in awareness and understanding, consistency of decision‑making and communication, and monitoring and enforcement. The next steps are to build on the strong foundation of Regulation 9A and take forward work to strengthen implementation and embed a culture of open visiting and clear decision making across health and social care.
The Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed that the Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS) will continue in financial year 2026/27, with up to £10 million available to support eligible adult social care employers to invest in training courses and qualifications for their staff.
Alongside this, the government will continue funding of up to £2.3 million for the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) for newly qualified social workers and up to £1 million for the User-Led Organisations (ULO) fund, supporting learning for those working in more personalised care arrangements such as personal assistants. From FY 2026/27, ASYE and ULO funding will be administered by NHS Business Services Authority (previously administered via Skills for Care).
There will also be continued funding for the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism in 2026/27, with further details to be confirmed in due course.
Further information, including guidance and application routes, has been published on GOV.UK Adult Social Care Learning and Development Programme. We encourage employers, sector partners and organisations to share this guidance, so that as many eligible organisations as possible are aware of the support available.
As part of our annual exhibition programme, we’re pleased to be exhibiting at the Care Show in London on 29–30 April. We’re delighted to once again host our Inspector Hub, giving visitors the opportunity to book an appointment and speak directly with our expert CQC inspectors across both inspection and registration.
Join us on the stage as we cover a range of key topics, including medicines management, safeguarding, registration, and culture and innovation.
Our Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care and Integrated Care, Chris Badger, will also be delivering a keynote speech on the future of adult social care regulation — a session you won’t want to miss. We look forward to seeing you at stand E25!
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In a new blog Professor Bola Olawabi CBE, Chief Inspector of Primary Care and Community Services, discusses how we use feedback to improve care. Bola talks about Share for Better Care Week 2026, how feedback becomes action, the ways people can share their experiences, and more.
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