The Care Quality Commission is set to roll out a named inspector model for every adult social care provider in England, with providers set to be informed of their allocated lead inspector over the coming months, chief inspector Chris Badger has revealed.
Speaking at the Care Show Birmingham today, Mr Badger said the move is designed to support a more “preventative” and relationship-based approach to regulation, enabling providers to raise issues and seek advice before formal inspections take place.
“A lot of people talk to me about wanting to have named inspectors, which is something that we used to have back in the day,” he said.
He said providers “have all been allocated a lead inspector…and will be communicated to over the next month or two about who that is.”
He added: “I want to be a preventative regulator. I want us to spot issues early.”
Inspection and registration progress
Mr Badger also used his keynote talk to highlight a series of operational changes introduced since he joined the regulator, including the return to dedicated adult social care inspection teams and an increase in inspection activity.
He said inspections have increased by around 59 per cent over the past year, with 70 per cent now planned activity rather than being solely driven by risk concerns.
He also said the regulator had cleared a backlog of around 2,000 registration applications from 2025-26.
“We said we were going to do that, and we've done it,” he added.
The regulator is also expanding its ‘return to good’ approach, which uses a shorter assessment process for services where intelligence suggests quality has improved.
Mr Badger said 711 inspections had been planned under the model, with reports being published around 19 working days faster than through the standard process.
Reform, councils and quality
Looking ahead, the chief inspector said adult social care reform must balance the needs of older people and working-age adults, while giving greater attention to workforce development and clearer national standards.
He also pointed to a need to address variation in local authority safeguarding and commissioning practice.
“We see the variability in the quality of commissioning as really stark,” he said, adding that some fee rates appeared “very difficult” for providers to deliver services against.
Mr Badger said a further engagement session on its proposed revised adult social care assessment framework, with fewer quality statements, clearer expectations and a stronger focus on personalisation and safety, is due to take place later this month.
He also added the regulator would also do more to share examples of both outstanding practice and enforcement action across the sector.
The changes form part of CQC’s wider programme to develop sector-specific assessment frameworks for adult social care and other regulated services.
