Struggling to keep up with CQC news this autumn? Here’s what’s changed, and what it means for your service, in a few minutes.
The New CQC Framework: Where It Stands
CQC’s draft framework for adult social care would replace the 34 quality statements with 24 key lines of enquiry (KLOEs), and add written descriptions of what each rating looks like. The five key questions stay the same. Pilots ran from June to October 2026, with evaluation due in November. No go-live date has been confirmed.
What to do now: keep evidencing against the Single Assessment Framework, which is still live, and start mapping your evidence to the proposed KLOEs.
Sector-Specific Inspections Are Coming
Instead of one framework for every type of service, CQC is moving to four sector-specific frameworks: adult social care, mental health, primary care and community services, and hospitals. Each uses the same building blocks: the five key questions, KLOEs written for that sector, rating characteristics for each rating level, and “I statements” from the Making It Real framework that describe good care from the person’s point of view. CQC also plans to drop numerical scoring and make rating judgements at key question level.
What to do now: read the draft framework for your own sector, and check your evidence shows people’s experiences in their own words.
Outstanding Is Earned, and Has to Be Kept
This month also saw one care service move from Outstanding straight to Inadequate after inspection. It’s a stark reminder that a rating reflects what inspectors find on the day, not what was achieved in the past.
What to do now: keep audits honest (be wary of anything always at 100%), keep records up to date and show what changed after incidents. If it’s not written down, it never happened.
Workforce: Fewer Vacancies, but Pressure Remains
Skills for Care’s latest data shows the vacancy rate has fallen to 6.2%, a ten-year low. But there are still around 96,000 vacancies on any given day, and international recruitment is at its lowest level in four years.
What to do now: make sure Home Office sponsorship compliance is watertight, and invest in induction and supervision to keep good staff.
Government Plans for Social Care
In early October, the government committed to a National Care Service in the next Parliament, including free personal care for older people. It also announced a national pension scheme for care workers, building on the first Fair Pay Agreement, which is backed by £500 million in its first year and due to launch in 2028. Baroness Casey’s commission will report in summer 2027. Separately, the government plans to make all autism and ADHD diagnostic assessments CQC-regulated, once new regulations are in place.
What to do now: start factoring pay and workforce changes into your planning.
How We Can Help
Whether you need a mock inspection, a governance review or leadership support, SK Health Consultancy can help.
Bringing simplicity to compliance. Get in touch today.
Sources
- Care Quality Commission – latest news and ratings (incl. 16 October 2026 press release)
- CQC – Draft sector-specific assessment frameworks
- CQC – Piloting, testing and evaluation of new assessment method
- VWV – CQC’s new assessment framework pilot
- Skills for Care – Size and structure of the adult social care sector and workforce
- National Health Executive – Vacancy rate falls to decade low
- DHSC Social Care blog – The future of adult social care (9 October 2026)
- GOV.UK – Government pledges earlier support to tackle mental health crises (9 October 2026)
