At this year’s Care England conference, Chris Badger, who recently became the Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care and Integrated Care, shared how the CQC is transforming its approach to regulating adult social care. He envisions ASC as a collaborative regulator and aims for it to serve as a credible advocate for adult social care at both national and local levels.
Over the past six months, the CQC has implemented several significant changes to its regulatory approach. These include:
- Reinstating sector-specific adult social care inspection teams, thereby bringing back specialist expertise.
- Increasing both the number and frequency of inspections to address and clear the backlog of outstanding assessments.
- Strengthening oversight of information relating to areas of concern.
- Adopting a revised strategy for risk assessment and prioritisation.
- Enhancing the registration process for homecare providers.
In addition, the CQC has been actively consulting with a wide range of stakeholders to inform the redesign of its assessment framework.
The next six months
Over the coming six months, the CQC will focus on strengthening relationships with providers, increasing inspection activity, and finalising its new assessment framework. Alongside these priorities, CQC is set to publish new guidance this year, with three key documents scheduled:
- Sector best practice insight – September 2026
- Good practice guidance to prevent choking deaths in people with a learning disability
- Dementia guidance – Autumn 2026
Return to Good
Chris Badger shared an update on the CQC’s Return to Good initiative, outlining current efforts to redefine what constitutes "Good." This strategy aims to address inspection backlogs and enhance regulatory oversight while maintaining high standards of assurance. The CQC has developed a new assessment approach for lower-risk services that have received a 'Good' rating, reducing unnecessary document reviews and placing greater emphasis on individuals’ experiences and observations. This revised process is expected to alleviate inspection delays and strengthen regulatory effectiveness without compromising assurance. Rollout is planned for April/May 2026.
Portfolio and relationship management
CQC has reorganised its teams into sector-specific inspection teams. Across all sectors, they are beginning to reintroduce relationship owners called Provider Oversight Leads. They are also piloting named inspectors for around 1,500 locations and are refining this approach based on stakeholder feedback and previous pilot experiences. CQC expects to publish an evaluation report by the end of March 2026, with a decision regarding broader implementation expected in April.
Shorter inspection reports
Shorter inspection reports
As part of CQC's ongoing efforts to strengthen its regulatory processes, short reports are being developed to make CQC inspection findings clearer and enable quicker provider action. The aim is to improve report quality and accessibility while cutting down inspectors’ writing time, based on staff and independent feedback. CQC is prototyping and testing the new format with a small group before wider use. Currently, CQC reports average 20 pages in England, compared to 14 pages in Wales and 12 in Scotland.
Technology
CQC is co-designing new digital and technology systems to enhance regulation, upgrade the provider portal, and digitise the registration process.
Looking ahead
CQC will be hosting full-day events in April and May in Birmingham, Manchester, and London. These sessions will represent the next phase of developing CQC's assessment framework and methodology. The events are intended to communicate CQC’s progress and engage collaboratively with stakeholders who will use this framework.
Since writing this, the CQC has published its draft sector-specific assessment frameworks for adult social care, mental health care, primary care and community services, as well as hospitals, and is inviting feedback by 12 June. We’ll look to update readers shortly.
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