No plans to scrap single-word ratings for adults’ services, says government

The government has no plans to scrap single-word judgments of local authority adults’ services, despite the decision to ditch the approach for children’s social care.

The Local Government Association today urged ministers to end overall ratings of council adult social care performance by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The LGA made the call in the light of last week’s decision to ditch single-word ratings for all services inspected by Ofsted, including in children’s social care.

Ending single-word ratings for children’s services

Though there is no date set for the reform, in future, council children’s services and regulated services, such as children’s homes and independent fostering agencies, will not be rated as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate following full inspections.

Instead, they will be assessed using a report card-style tool, which will likely involve evaluating performance across a range of areas.

The decision was made in response to the Big Listen, Ofsted’s biggest ever consultation, carried out in the light of a coroner’s verdict that its  2022 inspection of Caversham Primary School, Reading, contributed to headteacher Ruth Perry’s decision to take her own life.

Social care providers more supportive than not of ratings system

The consultation, responded to by over 20,000 people, including 4,325 children, revealed strong opposition to single-word judgments. Ofsted said these were “heavily criticised for oversimplifying the complexities of providers and not providing a full picture of their performance”.

However, separate research with 3,496 providers and 3,831 professionals from across the sectors Ofsted regulates found those in social care were more supportive than not of single-word judgments.

While the CQC has rated regulated adult social care services on a similar basis to Ofsted since 2014, it only started assessing councils last year, following the reintroduction of performance checks of local authority adults’ services.

Return of adults’ services assessments

In the face of opposition from council leaders, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) determined that authorities would receive a single-word judgment.

Of the first nine authorities to be rated, six were judged to be good and three requires improvement, with the judgment being accompanied by a narrative report and a score, based on the council’s performance against nine statements.

The LGA said councils valued the CQC’s narrative reports but added that single-word judgments of adults’ services did not do justice to the complexity of social care, particularly in the context of funding constraints.

Single words ‘cannot capture complexity of adult social care’

“Local government fully supports transparency and accountability,” said David Fothergill, chair of the LGA’s community wellbeing board.

“But while assessment and regulation are both important and helpful in driving improvements to services, single word or phrase judgements cannot ever adequately capture the complexity of adult social care and the work councils do to meet their legal obligations.

“The government must ensure that the assurance process is, and remains, productive and supportive for councils. Sufficient time must be given to learn the lessons from councils’ experiences as more go through the assessment process.”

CQC deemed ‘not fit for purpose’

The LGA’s call comes with the CQC under intense scrutiny, after health and social care secretary Wes Streeting declared the regulator “not fit for purpose” in the wake of a damning report.

In the interim report of her government-commissioned review, Dr Penny Dash found that inspection levels were still well below pre-Covid levels, a lack of expertise among inspectors, inconsistency in assessments and problems with the CQC’s IT system.

In response to the LGA’s call to end single-word judgments, a CQC spokesperson said: “Our assessments were developed alongside the sector to help drive improvement by highlighting good practice and areas for further development.

“Local authorities have told us of the value of sharing findings to help make immediate improvements, by identifying their strengths and where gaps may exist. The narrative assessments and conversations they spark are central to this.

‘No plans’ to end single-word judgments

“The precise methodology for our local authority assessments, including if assessments result in a rating, is subject to ministerial approval. Any changes to this methodology would be a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care.”

A DHSC spokesperson said: “We are thoroughly reviewing the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and as part of that work we have asked the CQC to improve the transparency of their ratings. We are not currently considering a change to the single-word ratings system.”