SCIE and TLAP respond to new CQC report

Stark variation has become a hallmark of social care in England. It is indefensible that some people receive timely, personalised support that enables independence and dignity, while others receive support that fails to meet even their basic needs.

This report provides further evidence that too many people continue to be let down by weaknesses in the social care system. The findings on safeguarding, assessments and reviews, and transitions from children’s to adult services highlight areas where people can be exposed to significant harm.

The report also highlights, however, what good care should look like. Where local authorities understand their communities, invest in proactive, preventive care, and commit to genuine co-production, people experience better outcomes.

Embedding best practice across the whole system now is mission-critical. SCIE’s work on national standards of care sets out a practical framework for this.

Our new research, ‘Understanding People’s Experiences of Inequities in Social Care’, provides additional evidence for tackling the variation described in the CQCs report – but with a focus on equity as the driver for change.

Geography may shape what services are available locally, but our research shows that people’s choices and control over their lives are unevenly experienced. These wider patterns of unfairness are personal, and they appear to be baked into the design of local care systems – from how care is accessed and organised to how support is delivered.

The CQC findings remind us that good adult social care is not defined by the rating on a report, but by the lives people are able to live because of it. The strongest councils are those where people, families, carers, and communities help shape decisions from the beginning, not simply comment on them afterwards. Co-production is not an engagement exercise; it is a way of making better decisions, building trust, and creating services that reflect people’s real lives.

The report also reminds us that we must look beyond overall ratings. A council can be performing well overall, while some communities continue to experience poorer access, longer waits. or fewer opportunities. Equity means asking not only, ‘How is the system performing?’ but, ‘Who is benefiting, who is missing out, and what are we going to do about it?’

The next stage of improvement should move beyond measuring whether the right processes are in place to understanding whether people experience greater choice, stronger relationships, more independence, and the opportunity to live gloriously ordinary lives. Ultimately, the measure of success is not whether a system works for organisations, but whether it works for the people who draw on support.