CQC local authority assessments: hearing from you as we develop our future approach

We are currently assessing all 153 local authorities in England to review how they are meeting their adult social care duties under Part 1 of the Care Act (2014).

Most local authorities have now been assessed or are currently being assessed. This initial phase of assessments is due to conclude next year, with all on-site activity due to be completed in December 2025.

We will use the feedback and learning from the initial phase of assessments to inform our approach to re-assessment for local authorities. We are developing this through engagement with our stakeholders and following the agreement of new priorities with government.

Developing rating characteristics – hearing your views

To support our future assessments of local authorities, we want to introduce and use rating characteristics. These will suggest what care and support, and governance and leadership might look like for each quality statement across each rating in the assessment framework.

Rating characteristics will support the professional judgement of our assessment teams, and the intention is to use them alongside external best practice standards and guidance. They will also support delivery of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s objectives and priorities for local authorities.

We want to hear your views on our initial draft rating characteristics for local authority assessments. These are based on what we have learned from our initial baselining assessments, current good practice, and our engagement to date.

You can share your feedback on our online participation platform from today until 25 November. We will use your feedback to help us further develop and refine the rating characteristics, which we will publish alongside our re-assessment framework for local authorities

Next steps to develop our re-assessment approach

We are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services to develop our re-assessment framework and approach. We are also gathering feedback and input from local authorities, adult social care trade associations and people who use services, their families and carers and organisations that represent them.

The re-assessment framework is subject to government approval, as required by the Health and Care Act 2022. Following government approval, we will publish updated guidance for local authorities.

Note: Our engagement on local authority assessments is not part of our consultation on how we assess and rate providers - Better regulation, better care.