The past 12 months have been a whirlwind time for providers regulated by CQC. We have seen the full roll-out of the Single Assessment Framework (“SAF”), the damning findings of the Dash Review and CQC’s public acceptance that the SAF is not fit for purpose and ratings cannot be relied upon. Most recently, we’ve seen the appointment of a new Chief Executive in Sir Julian Hartley and the development of the ‘CQC Way’ – a new framework intended to restore trust, improve regulator efficiency and ensure timely assessments – as well as the Care Provider Alliance’s (“CPA”) review of the SAF alongside CQC’s response to this.

What are the aims of the CQC Way?

The CQC Way aims to reset and refocus CQC’s purpose, values and ways of working. It has been described as a foundational piece of work that will run alongside immediate improvement actions CQC is taking. CQC is currently developing a set of statements that are intended to describe:

  • Why CQC exists
  • What CQC aims to achieve
  • How CQC Works

CQC has confirmed its intention to genuinely co-design the CQC Way with colleagues, providers and stakeholders. To enable this, CQC has set up an anonymous engagement platform that enables contributors to add comments, respond to and vote on various draft statements related to the above. All existing CQC registered persons (for example, registered managers, nominated individuals and partners) are automatically signed up to the platform. Anyone that doesn’t fall under the umbrella of ‘registered person’ can sign up online. We recommend that anyone involved with CQC regulated services sign up to the platform to enable them to have their say in the future of CQC regulation.

The CPA’s review of the SAF and CQC’s response

In February 2025 the CPA published its final report on social care provider’s perspectives of the SAF and what they want the future of regulation to look like. It highlighted 11 recommendations and key messages. In response to the report, CQC has confirmed it’s already taking urgent action to address concerns about its performance on backlogs, assessment frequency, registration delays and the publication of reports. CQC has expressed its commitment to considering the CPA report’s recommendations alongside existing work and a determination to improve provider’s experience of regulation through the development of a handbook.

Current inspection activity

While the CQC Way is being developed, CQC continues to conduct assessments of providers using the flawed SAF assessment model. This is clearly problematic for providers and increases the potential for judicial review of CQC decisions.

One of the original aims of the SAF was to introduce a more standardised scoring system to reduce subjectivity and help ensure ratings were more consistent across the country. However, the nonsensical way in which the process was developed and implemented has arguably led to more subjectivity than ever. There is currently a notable absence of score descriptors that inspectors can refer to when determining scores and for providers to refer to when seeking to challenge scores awarded in draft reports.

On the ground providers are experiencing a distinct lack of clarity when CQC alleges regulatory breaches. Inspection reports fail to reference regulatory breaches in sufficient detail to enable providers to understand the reasons for alleged breach(es). In many cases, particularly where CQC hasn’t decided to take additional enforcement action, the provider has no additional insight into the specifics of the alleged breach(es) which leaves them unable to challenge CQC’s assertions effectively and unable to take appropriate remedial action.

As a result of the above issues we are assisting an increased number of providers with submitting factual accuracy comments alongside complaints to CQC.

Conclusion

Providers are encouraged to get actively involved in the development of the CQC Way. While stakeholder engagement wasn’t properly reflected through the development of the SAF, CQC’s  public recognition of this failure and its commitment to co-designing the CQC Way provides some reassurance that stakeholders voices genuinely matter this time around. Any providers who have concerns about current CQC inspection activity should consider seeking legal support. At Gordons Partnership, we have significant experience supporting providers through the CQC assessment process – please don’t hesitate to contact us for an initial discussion to see how we may be able to assist.

 

About the Author

Samantha Burges

Senior Associate Solicitor