The Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. Its purpose is to make sure health and care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and to encourage them to improve.

CQC does this by registering, monitoring, inspecting and regulating hospitals, adult social care services, dental and general practices and other care services in England, to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. We set out what good and outstanding care looks like and we make sure services meet these standards which care must never fall below. 

CQC aims to tackle inequalities and protect and promote people’s rights to make sure everyone has good quality care, and equal access, experience and outcomes. This is in line with our strategy, our core purpose and legal responsibilities, including the Equality Act (2010) Public Sector Equality Duty, and the Human Rights Act (1998).

Since April 2023, CQC has a responsibility to give a meaningful and independent assessment of care in a local area. This includes assessment of Local Authorities’ performance against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. The Health and Care Act 2022 also gives CQC responsibilities to assess whether integrated care systems are meeting the needs of their local populations.

CQC reports publicly on what it finds locally, including performance ratings for care providers, to help people choose care and encourage providers to improve. It also reports annually to Parliament on the overall state of health and adult social care in England.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman 

The role of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) is set out in the Local Government Act 1974. 

LGSCO investigates individual complaints about councils and all adult social care providers, including privately funded adult social care services. LGSCO is free, independent and impartial and ensures that organisations put things right if they have gone wrong.

By sharing the learning from our investigations the LGSCO helps service providers to improve their services for everyone. This is done in many ways including publishing our decisions and complaints data, issuing thematic reports and guidance documents, engaging with public policy debates and providing training on complaint handling.