CQC – The Need For A Coherent Inspection Framework

I’m Neil Grant, a Partner at Gordons Partnership Solicitors.

On May 6 2026, the Care Quality Commission held a workshop attended by over 1000 people. It was convened to update the sector on where it is with its reform agenda. There were no big announcements. They said they were continuing to gain feedback from the public on the draft assessment frameworks as the consultation remained open until June 12 2026. They added they would then run the pilots to properly test things this time around. The absence of proper planning and testing in relation to the Single Assessment Framework back in 2023 was one reason why it was such an unmitigated disaster. They said they are hoping for implementation of the new framework by the end of this year or start of 2027 but they were very non-committal about the implementation timescale.

Inspections – the importance of proper feedback

CQC are moving away from numerical scoring and towards findings and ratings based on professional judgment. Essentially this is returning to the previous way of working before the Single Assessment Framework was introduced at the end of 2023.
Providers should insist on proper feedback from inspectors now given current inspection reports generally lack detail and are often contradictory and confusing. Moreover, standard sentences appear in inspection reports which may bear no relation to your particular service. There is also a lack of clarity about the evidence relied upon to support findings of breaches of regulation. All of this means it is essential that providers seek answers from inspectors during the assessment and at the feedback stage.

Additionally, CQC are committed to introducing shorter inspection reports – more like Ofsted reports – with feedback on the inspection being more detailed. Even before the Single Assessment Framework, the move to shorten inspection reports had gathered pace. Even back then, CQC said that only the best evidence would be included in an inspection report. This meant that evidence CQC was relying on would not necessarily appear in the inspection report. In many ways that position has become even more acute under the current system given CQC does not include evidence under all the evidence categories anymore. It merely summarises the evidence for each quality statement under one evidence category. Typically, these summaries are brief and incomplete.

If CQC is to move to even shorter inspection reports at the end of this year or next year, it will be even more important to get the details of the evidence being relied upon by CQC in your various interactions with the inspectors. CQC is also keen to use AI to support the inspection process. You need to be sure that inspection reports genuinely reflect your services as there is a real risk that reporting becomes ever more standardised and general in nature.

CQC written feedback

Written feedback can be detailed and informative but we see examples that are incredibly brief and vague. That may not be such a problem if you end up with a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ rating, but it does present a problem if your service is in the ‘Requires Improvement’ or ‘Inadequate’ category. In particular, if CQC alleges a breach of regulation, you should ask as a matter of routine for the precise evidence CQC is relying on to reach this conclusion. CQC should have conducted an internal meeting to decide if there have been any breaches of regulation. Therefore, this information should be readily available to the inspector to pass on to the provider. You cannot rely on the draft report providing that clarity anymore and it remains unclear how CQC intends to reflect regulatory breaches in draft reports produced under the new framework.

Online feedback meetings with CQC

Online feedback meetings are another means of gaining more information from CQC about the inspection. It is also an opportunity for you to challenge any opinions or findings that you consider are wrong or misleading. You should ask for the online meeting to be recorded and shared with you so there is a complete and accurate record of the discussion. You should not feel nervous in asking for it to be recorded. It is a perfectly sensible and reasonable request to make. Regulation only works if there is clarity around the inspection and its findings.

Conclusion

There are some positive signs emerging. More assessments are being carried out and CQC is keen to return to services that have not been inspected in years. The registration backlog is also coming down. However, the reality is CQC has been using an inspection framework for two and a half years that is not fit for purpose. It will continue to do so at least until the end of the year and quite possibly into 2027. All of this means that you need to be active participants in the inspection process if CQC comes knocking on your door. The future of your service may depend on it.