Joint working protocol between CQC and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)

Joint working protocol between CQC and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)

Introduction

1. This Joint Working Protocol (JWP) is between the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS). It is grounded in improving and maintaining safe, high-quality and person-centred services for people, and upholding people’s human rights.
2. It sets out the areas in which CQC and Directors of Adult Social Services (DASSs) in local authorities, with adult social services responsibilities need to work together and coordinate their roles, activities and information sharing. It aims to foster an environment, which facilitates open and honest conversations about quality and safety.
3. Through effective sharing of information and proportionate and appropriately coordinated actions, we will tackle poor quality care, identify and address potential organisational abuse, and support and encourage services and local areas to improve. As part of our shared concern for quality and broader sector work, we will strive to develop an agreed, shared view of quality and to support a common quality dataset for adult social care (ASC). Our vision is for the public and those delivering care to have access to timely, high-quality data to improve care quality and inform choices about care and support. The aim is to prevent services deteriorating to the point where people experience poor quality care, harm or abuse.
4. CQC, ADASS and DASSs in local authorities are committed to promoting equality and tackling health and social care inequalities, to ensure all people using services have good quality care, as well as equal access, experience and outcomes from social care and health services. We all strive to fulfil our responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.
5. In order to fulfil their respective remits as effectively as possible, CQC and DASSs share a range of information on a regular basis at a local, regional and national level. This involves sharing information and knowledge about health and adult social care services that are regulated by CQC. When appropriate, information is also shared about regulated services that provide care and support to children and young people, in line with statutory requirements.
6. ADASS supports this protocol nationally and regionally and strongly encourages its members to adopt it. We recognise that some activities will involve our members and others will involve staff who represent or deliver services on behalf of our members. Throughout the document, where we refer to Directors of Adult Social Services (DASSs), we mean directors or those representing them.
7. Where regular local information sharing meetings or other meetings or forums are held, these will provide an accessible and inclusive environment for all to contribute, and to offer constructive challenges to one another. Meetings should be action oriented. Key points and actions should be captured and shared with attendees and those who have given apologies, so that all those involved are clear about the agreed actions, who they are assigned to, the timescales, and the mechanism for feeding back on progress and completion. In addition, if they are unable to complete the action, there should be an agreed process on how this is fed back, and the next steps are agreed.
8. If concerns about a regulated service are discussed in a forum that is a sub-committee or the equivalent of a Safeguarding Adults Board then others such as the police, the NHS, or any other relevant stakeholders, may be involved and decisions will need to be made about the appropriateness, advantages and disadvantages of sharing and confidentiality, in line with current information sharing protocols.
9. The roles and responsibilities of CQC and local authorities are set out at Annex A of this JWP. CQC has been given powers since April 2023 to undertake assessments of local authorities in respect of their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. This protocol acknowledges that duty, however the protocol relates only to working together in respect of delivery of regulated activities for registered providers with CQC. Members, via this protocol, are committed to discussions remaining transparent despite this new regulatory layer.
10. This JWP is to support work between CQC and DASSs and is not intended to be legally enforceable. However, CQC, ADASS and its members are committed to working in ways that are consistent with the content of this document. It will be reviewed bi-annually, unless required sooner. In addition, once structures and responsibilities have been agreed in relation to Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and Neighbourhood Health (a new UK wide approach to delivering more care at home or closer to home) this should trigger a review.

The approach of CQC and ADASS to joint working

11. Joint working will require CQC and DASSs or their representatives to exchange information. CQC and ADASS acknowledge and agree that, ultimately, any decision to share information must be compliant with data protection and handling legislation and each organisation’s own information sharing guidance (Work is ongoing on joint data sharing principles with a view to including this in future iterations of this document). CQC and DASSs should work towards reducing duplication and burden on providers and staff wherever possible.
12. It is recommended that information held by both CQC and local authorities regarding the quality of services delivered by registered providers is regularly shared where appropriate and lawful to do so. These providers could include statutory agencies such as a local authority or health providers (either NHS or independent). Particular attention should be paid to those rated by CQC as “Inadequate” and those that are repeatedly rated as “Requires Improvement”, and those where there is either a single, significant issue or an emerging pattern of concerns.
13. Professional judgement should be used to distinguish between repeated or thematically linked safeguarding concerns, which when considered collectively indicate abuse or neglect, and high volumes of minor, low‑risk safeguarding referrals or CQC notifications that do not meet statutory thresholds for further enquiries. This aims to look at how we can support services to improve, evolve their service offer or to exit the market. Information should also be shared about any other locations of concern identified by the local authority or CQC. This information sharing can be done through regular local information sharing meetings (see Annex B for a recommended operational protocol for such meetings), which may include joint meetings with neighbouring DASSs or health commissioners.
14. In addition, between regular meetings and those held as and when required, it is recommended that CQC and DASSs involve each other as soon as possible if either become aware of any safeguarding information related to regulated services, in line with local safeguarding arrangements. They should also share relevant safeguarding information regarding unregistered providers or unregulated services, if they become aware of any.
15. Hosting authorities (the local authority in whose area a registered provider is physically based) should inform commissioning local authorities when they become aware of any safeguarding referrals or enquiries relating to a provider in their area. Equally, if concerns are identified about a registered provider outside the local authority area, these concerns should be shared with the hosting authority/authorities. It is also recommended that CQC and DASSs involve each other when there is safeguarding information regarding an NHS setting or an independent healthcare setting such as an independent hospital or rehabilitation facility. When appropriate, CQC and DASSs should communicate quality and safeguarding issues to the relevant commissioners in ICSs, if the NHS also commissions services from that provider, and to System Quality Groups (SQG) that replaced the Quality Surveillance Groups. This includes where either party has relevant information about safeguarding issues in any regulated health service, including independent hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, not just in adult social care services commissioned by health. The roles and responsibilities of key agencies involved in adult safeguarding are set out in this joint statement.
16. CQC and DASSs should share intelligence and learning to identify any emerging issues, patterns and themes nationally, regionally and locally to reduce risk and drive improvements in the quality of care and to stimulate market development. This should include identifying any emerging innovative practices and the development of new models of care. CQC and DASSs will collect, analyse and use data and information so that we can respond better to risks at the level of an individual service, a corporate provider of care, and at a local or regional level.
17. Where CQC and DASSs have concerns that best practice isn’t being followed, we should ensure this information is also shared with the other party, particularly where statutory guidance or national evidence-based policy, such as Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, has not been followed.
18. To develop and sustain effective partnership working arrangements, CQC and DASSs should keep each other up to date with methodology developments, new guidance and changes to relevant personnel and local systems. DASSs and CQC should ensure they each have up-to-date contact details. CQC’s relevant Deputy Director will organise the appropriate CQC representative to meet with a new DASS in their first three months in post.
19. Where concerns are raised about potential provider failure (a registered provider becomes unable to carry out a regulated activity because of business failure), provider closure following CQC enforcement action (HSCA 2008 by cancellation, variation of conditions or suspension of registration) or possible unregistered providers, CQC and the relevant local authority/authorities affected should work together to ensure a coordinated approach and agree an appropriate course of action. This could include other eventualities including a serious outbreak of disease or infection, or other regional or national emergencies. If this relates to the ceasing of a service (including the handing back of a contract, or enforced closure of a service), CQC and DASSs should work together and coordinate activities in line with national guidance.
20. If related to CQC’s market oversight regulatory responsibilities, then CQC will act in line with the published guidance. CQC is required to monitor the financial health of the most ‘difficult to replace’ adult social care providers. CQC must provide a notification to affected local authorities when CQC determines that service cessation is likely to occur as a result of business failure, and it is likely that a regulated activity will cease to be carried out because of this. CQC can only provide a notification of this type when the statutory criteria set out within Section 56 of the Care Act 2014 are met and not before. In such cases, DASSs may find Contingency planning tips for the business failure of a major social care provider useful. In the case of home care, DASSs may also find Top Tips for Sustaining Homecare helpful, to support working with providers to prevent business failure. Where registered services are run by a local authority, both commissioners and providers will need to work with CQC in their respective roles. DASSs should ensure a satisfactory separation of interest between commissioners and in-house provider management.
21. CQC and DASSs should ensure they share relevant information about serious concerns and/or potential provider failure with other commissioners (social care and continuing health care), including both those in and outside their area. CQC has formal powers of entry under Section 62 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. CQC also has statutory powers under Section 64 to require registered organisations, English NHS bodies and local authorities to provide information that it considers necessary or expedient to have for the exercise of its regulatory functions. The obligation to comply with a request for disclosure under section 64 creates a clear legal gateway for disclosure. Where a provider has a number of locations across different geographical areas, CQC will ensure relevant inspection teams are updated about such concerns. It is noted that some CQC teams (e.g. Market Oversight) are only able to share information when it relates to provider failure or safeguarding referrals.
22. At times, CQC, ADASS and DASSs may identify serious incidents, issues or patterns that are affecting social care at a local, regional or even national level, where sharing information with wider stakeholders will be relevant and important. For example, some services are commissioned at a regional level on behalf of a number of local authorities or NHS bodies and, where concerns are raised about a service, it may be necessary to alert commissioners across a wide geographic patch.
23. It is recognised that the safety of the working environment and how the workforce is treated are integral to the quality of care provided, and may require the involvement of, and input from, a wider range of agencies outside of social care.
24. CQC and ADASS also commit to strategic collaboration. This includes longer-term, higher-level activity, such as national concerns, thematic reviews, surveys and media and communications work. This will primarily be managed through the national and regional meetings, to which both organisations have agreed to provide a regular update on strategy, policy and communications.
25. ADASS senior representatives and CQC’s local authority also meet on a regular basis to ensure each organisation is aware of emerging issues and to raise any concerns.
26. Part of CQC’s role is to monitor the operation of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). As part of our assessment of registered providers, CQC also checks whether they act in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated Codes of Practice in all health and care services in England, to ensure compliance with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. CQC undertakes its DoLS monitoring duties via registration, assessment, inspection, and monitoring activity. In addition, CQC also receives notifications from providers regarding the outcomes of DoLS applications including where an authorisation is granted, refused or withdrawn as required for care homes and hospitals. CQC reports annually on findings from its DoLS monitoring activity in the State of Care report. CQC is the designated National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for health and social care in England. NPMs have the mandate to regularly visit places of deprivation of liberty in their country. NPMs also have the mandate to make recommendations to national authorities to work with them on the prevention of torture and ill-treatment and on the improvement of conditions of living in places of deprivation of liberty, for which they have a key role. CQC delivers this role when visiting settings where people are deprived of their liberty in monitoring or regulatory activity. It is recommended that DoLS and any challenges be discussed at information-sharing meetings. It would also be recommended to share a summary of findings from any safeguarding inquiries, or Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs), specifically relating to misuse of DoLS and of the MCA, including cases involving unlawful deprivation of liberty, failures to assess capacity, or inappropriate use of restrictive practices.

Press and publications

27. CQC and DASSs should endeavour to give each other adequate warning of, and sufficient information about, any planned public announcements on issues relevant to the other organisation. It is acknowledged that this may be challenging in some circumstances, such as where urgent enforcement action is required.
28. Each organisation should involve the other as early as possible in the development of planned announcements, including through sharing drafts of proposals and publications that affect both organisations. CQC and DASSs should respect the confidentiality of any documents shared in advance and ensure that the content of those documents is not made public ahead of the planned publication date.

Resolution of disagreement

29. Where there is a disagreement between CQC and a local authority, this should be resolved in the first instance at the local working level through the relevant Deputy Director or Director within CQC and Director of Adult Social Services. If necessary, the issue may be escalated to the relevant Director or Chief Inspector, and Local Authority Chief Executive.

Duration

30. This JWP commences on the date of the signatures below. It is not time limited and will continue to have effect unless the principles described above need to be altered and/or cease to be relevant.
31. This JWP will be reviewed every 2 years in accordance with paragraph 10 but may be reviewed at any time at the request of either party. Any amendments to the JWP will, however, require both parties to agree in writing.
32. Both organisations have identified a person responsible for the management of this JWP (known as ‘Relationship Leads’) and their contact details are set out in Annex C. Relationship Leads will liaise as required to ensure that:
    • This JWP is kept up to date.
    • They identify any emerging issues in the working relationship between the organisations.
    • They resolve any questions that arise in regard to the interpretation of this JWP.

14 May 2026

Annex A – responsibilities and functions

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. CQC sets out what good care looks like, and we make sure services meet these standards.
• 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.
• CQC’s responsibilities also include assessing how well local authorities are meeting their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act (2014). CQC publishes reports on how well local authorities are delivering their Care Act duties for people accessing care and support.
• CQC is the designated NPM (National Preventive Mechanism) for health and social care in England.
• CQC has a duty to monitor the operation of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) in England and report annually on its findings. As part of Assessments, CQC also checks whether registered health and care providers act in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated Codes of Practice.
• CQC has a duty under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) to monitor how services exercise their powers and discharge their duties when patients are detained in hospital or are subject to community treatment orders or guardianship. CQC visits and interviews people who are currently detained in hospital under the MHA. CQC requires providers to take action when CQC becomes aware of concerns or areas that need to improve. CQC has specific duties under the MHA, such as to: provide a second opinion appointed doctor (SOAD) service, review complaints relating to use of the MHA, make proposals for changes to the Code of Practice. CQC also publishes a yearly review “Monitoring the Mental Health Act.” This report sets out the CQC activities and findings from engagement with people subject to the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) and review of services registered to assess, treat and care for people detained using the MHA.

Local authorities with adult social services responsibilities

• Currently, not all local authorities will have adult social care responsibilities. Many county councils operate a 2-tier system with local councils focused on housing, refuse collection etc. and county councils having responsibility for adult social care and education. This will, however, change as local government re-organisation takes effect.
• Where local authorities do have adult social care responsibilities they will each appoint a Director of Adult Social Care (the ‘DASS’) who will have a range of legal responsibilities for the leadership and oversight of adult social care for local populations.
• The following summary of adult social care responsibilities is based on The DASS GUIDE published in 2025 by ADASS (The DASS Guide: Your statutory role as DASS - ADASS)

The local authority through the DASS role is expected to:

• Assess local needs and ensure the availability and delivery of a full range of adult social care services. This requires working with local people, NHS colleagues, voluntary and community organisations, and using both data and lived experience to understand need and shape services accordingly.
• Ensure that services are delivered to the appropriate standards. This includes implementing relevant legislation and regulations, promoting best practice, and driving a culture of continuous improvement.
• Drive preventative approaches, enabling earlier interventions, and managing the cultural change required to give people more choice and control over their care. This includes tackling inequalities, improving access, and ensuring that people with the highest needs are well supported.
• Develop sustainable services that promote independence and reduce reliance on intensive forms of care. This means improving social inclusion and wellbeing and considering the needs of families and carers in the planning and delivery of services.
• Champion wellbeing and inclusion beyond the organisational boundaries of adult social care by working with a wide range of partners to promote coordinated support that enables people to live independently and participate fully in their communities.
• Lead on workforce planning and development in adult social care. This includes working with local providers to ensure there are sufficient numbers of skilled staff, and that ongoing training and professional development supports a high-quality workforce.
• Promote a culture of person-centred care, embedding approaches that place individual needs, goals and preferences at the centre of decision-making, while ensuring services promote equity, equality, inclusion and diversity (EEDI).
• Lead work to develop an integrated, whole-system approach to community support. Working with health, housing, and other partners to deliver seamless services that improve outcomes. This includes promoting local access, ownership, and collaborative approaches that strengthen community resilience.
• Shape and sustain the care market, ensuring continuity of care in the event of provider failure, and promote wellbeing in everything the local authority does.
• Under the Mental Health Act, make sure Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) are available to consider undertaking Mental Health Act Assessments whenever needed and consider what services are needed to prevent hospital admission, in particular for people with a learning disability or autistic people.
• Make sure the local authority makes safeguarding enquiries or cause them to be made (S 42 enquiries), for any adult in the local authority area who has care and support needs, is at risk of abuse or neglect and because of their care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from that risk. Establish a Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) for its area, to assure itself that local safeguarding arrangements and partners act to help and protect adults in its area who meet the criteria set out in the Care Act 2014.
• Assess, or make arrangements for the assessment of, the need for accommodation based on support in its area in accordance with the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

Annex B: CQC - ADASS Local, Regional and National Meetings

This appendix is governed by the main joint working protocol between CQC and ADASS and must be applied in accordance with its terms.

Purpose

We will have open and transparent communications and engagement with each other, at a local, regional, and national level. This will include routinely sharing information about the standard of care and support provided by regulated providers, with the aim of improving the quality of regulated services and local systems. There will always be a focus on amplifying the voices of people most likely to have a poorer experience of care or have difficulty accessing care.

Local Information Sharing Meetings

Frequency and Format

• Held as a minimum every two months, chaired on a six-monthly rotating basis.
• Minutes and allocated action points recorded by the chairing organisation.
• Action-oriented with clearly owned responsibilities and feedback loops for incomplete actions with plans for escalation and next steps.

Attendees

Core:

• CQC
• Local authority (adult social care)

Suggested invitees (CQC and the local authority will consider which relevant representatives of other agencies should routinely be invited or involved as necessary):

• Local Healthwatch
• Fire and Police Services
• Skills for Care, NICE
• NHS bodies (e.g. Continuing Healthcare commissioners)
• Safeguarding leads
• Health and Safety Executive and Environmental Health
• Other relevant local authority services (e.g. housing, public health)

Meeting Preparation

• Use a shared, mutually agreed template to identify discussion items
• Templates to be circulated two working days in advance.
• Follow each organisation’s information sharing guidance.

Core Agenda Topics

• Profiles of risk in regulated services (especially CQC-rated ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires Improvement’).
• Themes and trends arising from safeguarding activity.
• Service risk factors, including identification and data analysis.
• Learning from successful sustained improvements and local development to improve care quality.
• Learning from Safeguarding Adult Reviews.
• Local market shaping and development of new care models.
• Intelligence sharing of any concerns that providers are not meeting people’s equality needs.
• Initiatives to reduce health inequalities.
• Coordination to reduce duplication and provider burden, ensuring that local systems are working in partnership as far as possible.
• If applicable, learning from provider closures and how these situations are best managed with providers, local authority, other commissioners and CQC.

Information Shared May Include:

From CQC:

• CQC reports (published).
• Concerns identified from the monitoring of regulated services, including any relevant themes and trends.
• Other non-statutory concerns received, where appropriate to do so.
• Concerns regarding the financial viability of a provider (within the meaning of Regulation 13 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, but not within the context of CQC’s Market Oversight duties which arise under the provisions of the Care Act 2014).
• Any specific concerns regarding organisational abuse and closed cultures. Closed cultures are defined as: “poor culture that can lead to harm, including human rights breaches such as abuse”. In these services, people are more likely to be at risk of deliberate or unintentional harm.” See CQC guidance: How CQC identifies and responds to closed cultures - Care Quality Commission
• Concerns regarding DoLS and misapplication of the MCA 2005, such as the routine application of Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation forms where adults lack capacity to object, or the use of DoLS to discharge people to care homes, who might at other points have wanted to return home.

From local authorities who are commissioners of adult social care services:

• Monitoring reports (shared with provider).
• Number of complaints and analysis of outcomes.
• Number of Safeguarding Adults and, if appropriate, children’s referrals and enquiries and analysis of outcomes.
• Any specific concerns regarding closed cultures.
• Concerns regarding the business and commercial operations of providers.
• Information gathered from social workers and care managers while assessing and reviewing the needs of people who use regulated servicesor undertaking safeguarding enquiries.
• Concerns regarding DoLS and misapplication of the MCA 2005.

From organisations that commission health services:

• Monitoring reports (shared with provider).
• Number of complaints and analysis of outcomes.
• Information gathered from independent contractor input to regulated services (including GPs).
• Information gathered as a result of community nursing or other allied health care input into regulated services.
• Information about the use of urgent and emergency services (physical and mental health) and admissions to the acute sector from care services, as well as failed discharges, and discharges to places other than the person’s previous home.
• Information arising from the commissioning of continuing health care.
• Number of Safeguarding Adults and, if appropriate, children’s referrals and changes made following the enquiries.
• Any organisational safeguarding concerns and specific concerns regarding closed cultures.
• Concerns regarding DoLS and misapplication of the MCA 2005.
• Information around admissions under the Mental Health Act. Any concerns about the ability of AMHPs to respond in a timely way to requests, for example people in the community waiting for admission, delays in bed allocation or ability to locate Section 12 approved doctors (a Registered Medical Practitioner who has expertise in the diagnosis of mental disorder within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1983 and who has been approved under Section 12(2) of the MHA by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care), which lead to safeguarding concerns.

In addition to routine local information sharing meetings, we will, as necessary, also:

• Inform each other as soon as reasonably possible of any matters that have come to our attention that may require action or a response from the other. For example, a serious safeguarding concern or a sudden closure of a service.
• Inform each other about any action being taken in relation to registered providers that may be relevant to the functions of the other; this will include notification in advance when appropriate to do so and where permitted by the relevant legislation.
• Inform each other about changes in personnel and provide up-to-date contact details.
• We will keep each other fully informed about developments in our approaches and methodologies. This will include, but is not limited to, developments in:
  • CQC’s assessment framework, regulatory requirements and ratings
  • The local authority’s commissioning and monitoring frameworks, tendering documentation and premium payments for quality services
• Sharing press releases, with as much notice as possible.
• Individual reviews, including any ratings.
• Ongoing developments and initiatives within the care and health sector.
• If applicable, and there is permission to share information intelligence regarding other sections which impact on people’s pathways of care.
• We will work in partnership, to promote improvement in the quality of services provided, including cascading information and other guidance that may be issued regarding best practice.
• At times CQC, ADASS and/or local authorities may identify issues that have a national, regional or local impact on practices in the social care market, and this will be escalated to a national level with partners wherever appropriate and useful. If required, a meeting should be urgently convened to respond to local and national emergencies, including workforce challenges because of a serious outbreak of disease, including a pandemic.

Regional Meetings

Frequency and Focus

• Held at least every six months between CQC and regional ADASS branches.
• Focus on system-wide intelligence, strategic commissioning, and partnership development across the system.

Key Topics

• Market shaping and strategic commissioning.
• Workforce challenges as a result of a serious outbreak of disease or infection, or any other regional or national emergency, including lack of staffing, recruitment and retention.
• High-level provider and regional risks – provider and/or geographical area, also consider other sector risks and impact on ASC and liaison with relevant System Quality Groups (SQG).
• Regional risks, for example, workforce, cross-boundary work.
• Themes and trends arising from safeguarding activity (for example, repeated concerns across providers, recurring types of abuse, region-wide safeguarding risks).
• Equality concerns.
• Quality concerns.
• Lessons learned and best practice.
• Escalated risks from local meetings and any that need to be escalated to the national leads.
• Planning for annual CQC/ADASS regional event.
• Concerns regarding DoLS and misapplication of the MCA 2005.
• Concerns about application of the Mental Health Act which raise Safeguarding concerns.

If required, a meeting should be urgently convened to respond to regional and national emergencies, including workforce challenges as a result of a serious outbreak of disease, including a pandemic.

National Meetings

Frequency and Focus

• Held at least every three months between CQC and national ADASS representatives.
• Focus on system-wide intelligence, national escalation of key issues, influence and partnership development.

Membership

Membership will consist of:

• ADASS Safeguarding Network Co-chairs
• CQC Chief Inspector for Adult Social Care and/or CQC Deputy Director of Safeguarding and Closed Cultures
• Safeguarding Leads and others as needed
• As and when required, Partners in Care and Health Safeguarding Leads
• NHS Safeguarding Leads
• Other organisations by agreement

The meeting will be facilitated and supported by the ADASS national team

Key Topics

• National challenges around the care market.
• National workforce challenges (including international recruitment).
• High-level provider national and regional risks.
• Safeguarding themes and equality concerns.
• Lessons learned and best practice.
• Escalated risks and whether these need to be escalated to national government or other bodies.
• Planning for annual CQC/ADASS events or publications.

If required a meeting should be urgently convened to respond to national emergencies, including workforce challenges as a result of a serious outbreak of disease including a pandemic.

Annex C: Contact details for all parties

Care Quality Commission
Citygate
Gallowgate
Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 4PA

Tel: 03000 616161

Association of Directors of Adult Social Services
18 Smith Square
London SW1P 3HZ

Tel: 0207 072 7433

Named contacts are only available as part of the original document.