Care Quality Commission · Draft v9
CQC's draft framework for adult social care, made explorable.
The draft assessment framework replaces the previous quality statements with 24 key lines of enquiry across five key questions. Read every KLOE and its rating characteristics, side by side, in language you can actually use.
This is CQC's draft v9 (19 March 2026), published for consultation. It is not yet in force and may change.
What's changing
From quality statements to 24 key lines of enquiry.
The five key questions stay. The scoring approach gives way to four rating characteristics per KLOE. We've set out exactly what moved, and been honest about what the draft doesn't yet tell us.
The shape of the framework
Twenty-four KLOEs, grouped under the five key questions CQC uses to assess every adult social care service. Start with the question that matters to you.
The five key questions
- Safe7 KLOEsYou are protected from abuse and avoidable harm.
- Effective4 KLOEsYour care, treatment and support achieves good outcomes, helps you to maintain quality of life and is based on the best available evidence.
- Caring3 KLOEsStaff involve and treat you with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- Responsive4 KLOEsServices are organised so that they meet your needs.
- Well-led6 KLOEsThe leadership, management and governance of the organisation make sure it's providing high-quality care that's based around your individual needs, that it encourages learning and innovation, and that it promotes an open and fair culture.
About this reference
Every statement, scope note and rating characteristic here is reproduced verbatim from CQC's draft framework table. Nothing is paraphrased or invented. Where the draft is silent, for instance on how each KLOE maps to the old quality statements, we say so rather than guess.
Read CQC's source document (PDF)