What is the Single Assessment Framework?
The CQC Single Assessment Framework represents a significant change in how care services are assessed. Introduced to provide more consistent, proportionate assessments across all health and social care sectors, it replaces the previous Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOEs) approach.
The framework maintains the five key questions (Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, Well-led) but introduces a new structure of quality statements and evidence categories to make assessments more consistent and focused on outcomes.
The Five Key Questions Remain
CQC continues to assess services against five fundamental questions:
Is the service Safe?
People are protected from abuse and avoidable harm
Is the service Effective?
Care achieves good outcomes and promotes quality of life
Is the service Caring?
Staff treat people with compassion, kindness, and respect
Is the service Responsive?
Services meet people's needs and preferences
Is the service Well-led?
Leadership ensures high-quality care and continuous improvement
Quality Statements
Under each key question, CQC now uses quality statements that describe what good care looks like. These statements are written from the perspective of people using services, making it clearer what outcomes are expected.
Quality statements focus on:
- What people should experience
- The outcomes that matter to people
- What providers need to do to achieve good care
Evidence Categories
CQC gathers evidence across six categories to assess each quality statement:
People's Experience
What people using services and their families say about their care
Feedback from Staff
Views of staff delivering care about working practices and culture
Feedback from Partners
Input from GPs, local authorities, and other professionals
Observation
What inspectors see during visits to the service
Processes
Policies, procedures, and systems in place
Outcomes
Measurable results showing impact of care on people
How Assessments Work
Under the single assessment framework:
Ongoing Assessment
CQC monitors services continuously using data, feedback, and intelligence. This means your rating can be updated at any time based on new information, not just after site visits.
Site Visits
When inspectors visit, they focus on gathering evidence for quality statements where they have concerns or need more information. Visits may be shorter and more targeted than traditional comprehensive inspections.
Rating Updates
Ratings can be updated for individual key questions without a full inspection, based on the evidence gathered across all categories.
What This Means for Care Homes
More continuous oversight
Keep documentation current at all times, not just before expected inspections
Outcome-focused assessment
Document how your care improves people's lives, not just what you do
Multiple evidence sources
Ensure staff understand CQC questions and families can give feedback easily
Targeted visits
Be prepared for focused visits on specific areas of concern
Transparent scoring
Understand how evidence maps to quality statements
Preparing for the New Framework
- Understand quality statements: Review the quality statements for adult social care on the CQC website
- Focus on outcomes: Document the difference your care makes, not just tasks completed
- Gather evidence across categories: Collect feedback from people, families, staff, and partners
- Maintain current records: With ongoing assessment, documentation must always be inspection-ready
- Train staff: Ensure all staff understand the framework and can articulate how they deliver good care
Digital Records and the Framework
Digital care systems support the single assessment framework by:
- Providing real-time evidence of care delivery
- Tracking outcomes over time with trend data
- Enabling easy access to records during visits
- Supporting continuous quality monitoring
- Generating reports aligned with quality statements
Related CQC Guides
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