What Evidence Do CQC Inspectors Look For? The Six Evidence Categories for Care Homes and Home Care
CQC’s six evidence categories explained in plain English, then mapped to the 34 quality statements with the records, observations and feedback CQC itself lists for care homes and home care.
CQC groups the evidence it looks at into six categories: people’s experience, feedback from staff and leaders, feedback from partners, observation, processes and outcomes. For a care home or home care service, most of the written evidence sits in “processes” (records, audits, policies and action plans), alongside what inspectors see and what people and staff tell them. CQC publishes examples of evidence for each of the 34 quality statements. It says these are examples, not full lists, and that it does not expect providers to have everything listed. The strongest evidence is a consistent picture across categories: what your records say, what staff and people say, and what the inspector observes.
This guide is for registered managers, nominated individuals and quality leads in care homes and home care (domiciliary care) agencies in England. It uses CQC’s own published lists, which are spread across more than ten separate pages, and puts them in one place. Where we add practical advice, we mark it as ours. Everything CQC-sourced is linked in the sources section.
If you want the broader preparation routine, see our inspection preparation guide. For the standards themselves, see the list of CQC quality statements.
Key takeaways
- CQC uses six evidence categories: people’s experience, feedback from staff and leaders, feedback from partners, observation, processes and outcomes.
- CQC assesses services against 34 quality statements across the five key questions. Each has its own list of example evidence.
- CQC says its lists are examples, not checklists, and that it does not expect you to have everything on them.
- For care homes and home care, “processes” covers most paper and digital records: audits, care records, training and recruitment files, policies and action plans.
- Inspectors triangulate. Records, what people and staff say and what is observed should tell the same story.
In this guide
- The six CQC evidence categories
- How CQC gathers evidence in adult social care
- Evidence for Safe: care homes
- Evidence for Effective: care homes
- Evidence for Caring: care homes
- Evidence for Responsive: care homes
- Evidence for Well-led: care homes
- How the home care list differs
- How to organise your evidence (our advice)
- Sources and how this was checked
- Frequently asked questions
The six CQC evidence categories
CQC describes the six categories as a way to make its judgements more transparent and consistent. Each quality statement has a set of relevant categories, and the number of categories and the sources vary with the type of service and the level of assessment (CQC: Evidence categories). This table summarises CQC’s definitions, with what each usually means in a care home or home care service:
| Category | CQC’s definition (summarised) | What it usually means in care homes and home care |
|---|---|---|
| People’s experience | Evidence from people who use a service, and from families, carers and advocates, covering their needs, expectations, lived experience and satisfaction | Conversations with people and relatives, “Give feedback on care” comments, surveys, compliments and complaints |
| Feedback from staff and leaders | Evidence from people who work in the service and from leaders, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups and whistleblowing | Staff conversations, staff survey results, how leaders describe the service, whistleblowing concerns |
| Feedback from partners | Evidence from organisations that interact with the service: commissioners, other providers, professional regulators and others | Commissioners, GPs, district nurses, social workers, pharmacists, local authority quality teams |
| Observation | Observing care and the care environment, mostly on site by CQC inspectors and specialist advisors | How staff speak to people, mealtimes and medicines rounds, the building, equipment and cleanliness |
| Processes | The steps, arrangements and activities a provider uses to deliver safe care that meets needs, including audits, incident learning and case records | Care plans, risk assessments, MARs, audits and action plans, training and recruitment records, policies, incident logs |
| Outcomes | The impact of care on people’s physical, functional or psychological status, considered in context | Falls, pressure ulcers, weight loss, hospital admissions, infection rates, and whether people reach their goals |
CQC’s own examples under “outcomes” and some under “processes” are clinical, such as mortality rates and national clinical audits, so care providers should concentrate on the sector-specific lists below.
How CQC gathers evidence in adult social care
CQC’s guidance for adult social care says inspection teams use a range of data including local information, information collected just before the inspection, what people who use services, families, carers, staff and other professionals tell them, and the inspection itself (CQC: Planning assessments). Before the visit CQC can draw on comments received by phone, letters, emails and its feedback form, information from local Healthwatch and other organisations, concerns raised by staff, and information from the provider. Adult social care providers are also asked to complete an annual provider information return (see our PIR guide). Evidence is gathered on site and off site, and CQC may expand the scope of an assessment if it needs to.
For a care home, a single inspector and an Expert by Experience, someone with personal experience of care, is often enough, according to CQC.
Evidence for Safe: care homes
For every quality statement, CQC lists feedback from people, feedback from staff and leaders and whistleblowing as relevant. The table adds the statement-specific evidence CQC lists for care homes and supported living (CQC: Care homes and supported living evidence categories).
| Quality statement | Processes (records and documents) | Observation and partner feedback |
|---|---|---|
| Learning culture | Duty of candour records; evidence of learning and improvement; incident, near miss and event records | Partner feedback in supported living |
| Safe systems, pathways and transitions | Multidisciplinary team meeting records; care records; records of referral, transfer or transition of care | Feedback from commissioners and health and care professionals |
| Safeguarding | DoLS and Court of Protection records; Mental Capacity Act records and training; care records; safeguarding policy, records and training | Observation of staff practice |
| Involving people to manage risks | DoLS and Court of Protection records; care records; records of restrictive practice | Observation of equipment, staff practice and the care environment |
| Safe environments | Business continuity plans; equipment maintenance and calibration records (care homes); risk assessments | Observation of equipment, staff practice and the care environment |
| Safe and effective staffing | Recruitment records; staff vacancy and turnover rate; staff records including appraisal, training, development and competency; training in communicating with people with a learning disability and autistic people | Observation of staff practice |
| Infection prevention and control | Infection prevention and control policy, audit and action plans | Observation of equipment, staff practice and the care environment |
| Medicines optimisation | Administration and dispensing, including “when required” (PRN) medicines; medicines audits, action plans and reviews; care records; STOMP and STAMP records | Observation of equipment, staff practice and the care environment |
Our guides to Regulation 12, Regulation 18 and required policies cover the underlying duties.
Evidence for Effective: care homes
| Quality statement | Processes (records and documents) | Partner feedback |
|---|---|---|
| Assessing needs | Assessments and records of meeting needs under the Equality Act 2010; assessments and best interest decisions under the Mental Capacity Act; clinical tools to assess pain and monitor risk; care records | |
| Delivering evidence-based care and treatment | Food and fluid charts; care records; quality improvement activity | |
| How staff, teams and services work together | Multidisciplinary team meeting records; care records | Commissioners and health and care professionals |
| Supporting people to live healthier lives | Activities list; annual health check or screening records; care, education and treatment reviews; hospital passport; care records | Supported living only |
| Monitoring and improving outcomes | Care records; provider-led audits and action plans | |
| Consent to care and treatment | Best interest meetings and evidence of power of attorney; capacity assessments; consent policy; care records |
See consent in care and our guide to competency assessments.
Evidence for Caring: care homes
Caring relies heavily on observation and on what people and staff say. CQC lists little paperwork beyond care records and workforce wellbeing measures.
| Quality statement | What CQC lists |
|---|---|
| Kindness, compassion and dignity | Observation of equipment, staff practice and the care environment; feedback from commissioners and professionals |
| Treating people as individuals | Observation; care records |
| Independence, choice and control | Observation; care records |
| Responding to people’s immediate needs | Observation of equipment, staff practice and the care environment |
| Workforce wellbeing and enablement | Mechanisms to monitor, improve and promote staff safety and wellbeing; staff management policies; staff sickness, vacancy and turnover rates |
Evidence for Responsive: care homes
| Quality statement | Processes (records and documents) | Observation and partner feedback |
|---|---|---|
| Person-centred care | Observation of staff practice and the care environment | |
| Care provision, integration and continuity | Arrangements to ensure continuity of care; care records | Commissioners and health and care professionals |
| Providing information | Arrangements to explain fees, identify communication preferences, share information with people and those close to them, and meet the Accessible Information Standard | |
| Listening to and involving people | Advocacy and support service records; collecting feedback, taking action and sharing learning; complaints records and outcomes; improvement plans and audits | |
| Equity in access | Care records; provider-led audits of processes; records and risk assessments about accessible facilities and premises | Care homes: commissioners and professionals |
| Equity in experience and outcomes | Care records; improvement plans and audits | |
| Planning for the future | DNACPR and ReSPECT decisions; end of life care planning; care records |
See our guides to handling complaints and the complaints log.
Evidence for Well-led: care homes
| Quality statement | Processes (records and documents) |
|---|---|
| Shared direction and culture | Business plans; equality, diversity and inclusion policy; monitoring of service objectives; vision, aims and strategy |
| Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders | Evidence of compliance with Schedule 3 and the Fit and Proper Person Requirements; leadership development and training; recruitment and induction records; registered manager status and changes |
| Freedom to speak up | Mechanisms for seeking and responding to staff feedback; whistleblowing records |
| Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion | Equality, diversity and inclusion policies and training; flexible working; reasonable adjustments and assistive technology for staff; records of incidents towards staff; workforce or EDI strategy, objectives and action plans |
| Governance and assurance | Business continuity plans and risk register; governance arrangements and organisation structure; information security, data protection and GDPR arrangements; quality management systems and reporting; workforce planning |
| Partnership and communities | Examples of sharing learning and best practice; records of collaboration; Trusted Assessor and Discharge to Assess schemes. Also people’s experience and partner feedback. |
| Learning, improvement and innovation | Evidence of embedding learning and making improvements; evidence of engagement in innovation initiatives |
CQC lists seven example evidence rows for well-led in care homes and home care. The eighth well-led quality statement, environmental sustainability, has no example evidence listed for these services.
The well-led evidence is where Regulation 17, audits and fit and proper persons checks show up.
How the home care list differs
CQC publishes a separate list for home care and shared lives services. The structure is the same, with these differences in the processes it lists:
- Safe environments: environmental risk assessment, health and safety risk assessments, equipment maintenance and calibration records, infection prevention and control audit and action plans, and business continuity plans including for extreme weather.
- Involving people to manage risks: arrangements to respond to emergencies and to identify people in need of urgent medical treatment.
- Staffing: appraisal and supervision records, staffing and staff skill mix records, and training, development and competency records.
- Medicines: administering and dispensing, medicines audits and action plans, medicines reviews and PRN protocols. STOMP and STAMP records and food and fluid charts are listed for care homes and not in the home care list.
- Effective: information sharing and transfer of records across or between services.
- Responsive: explaining fees clearly.
In home care the evidence tends to sit in visit records, daily notes, call monitoring, spot checks and medicines records, so gaps in those records are the usual way evidence problems show up.
How to organise your evidence (our advice)
CQC says its lists are examples that illustrate what it might look at, not a checklist, and that it does not expect providers to hold everything. That means the goal is not to build a folder for every bullet. A practical approach:
- Start from the quality statements, not the folder. For each of the 34 statements, note the two or three pieces of evidence that best show how you meet it.
- Cover all six categories where they apply. A statement supported only by policy documents is weak. Add what people, staff and partners say and what an inspector would observe.
- Make records show the story. Inspectors want dates, who did what, what changed and who checked. Audits should lead to dated actions that are closed.
- Keep evidence current. Review it monthly. Out of date evidence is worse than none because it suggests nobody is checking.
- Check that the story is consistent. Staff, care records and the environment should not contradict each other.
Our self-assessment guide and mock inspection questions help you test the picture, and how to prepare your staff covers the people side.
Sources and how this was checked
- CQC: Evidence categories and its pages on people’s experience, feedback from staff and leaders, feedback from partners, observation, processes and outcomes.
- CQC: Care homes and supported living services: evidence categories (page last updated 22 February 2024), by key question.
- CQC: Homecare and shared lives services: evidence categories, by key question.
- CQC: Assessing quality and performance (page last updated 2 July 2026).
- CQC: Planning assessments (page last updated 8 January 2026).
Read on 23 October 2026. CQC says these examples are not full lists. Its own pages take priority if they change.
Keep your evidence organised against the quality statements
CQCLogic keeps your actions, owners, deadlines and supporting evidence in one task list, so you can show inspectors what you did and when. It tracks your work; it does not submit anything to CQC. See a sample improvement plan, view pricing or get started free.
Frequently Asked Questions
What evidence do CQC inspectors look for?
They look at six categories: people’s experience, feedback from staff and leaders, feedback from partners, observation, processes and outcomes. For care homes and home care that means what people and staff say, what inspectors see, and records such as care plans, audits, training and recruitment files, policies and action plans.
What are the six evidence categories for CQC?
People’s experience of health and care services, feedback from staff and leaders, feedback from partners, observation, processes and outcomes.
Does CQC give a checklist of evidence?
No. CQC publishes examples of evidence for each quality statement and says they are examples, not full lists, and that it does not expect providers to have everything listed.
How many quality statements are there?
There are 34 across the five key questions: eight under Safe, six under Effective, five under Caring, seven under Responsive and eight under Well-led.
What records do CQC inspectors ask to see in a care home?
Examples CQC lists include care records, risk assessments, medicines records and audits, recruitment and training records, safeguarding and incident records, complaints records, governance and quality management records, and equipment and maintenance records.
What records do inspectors look at in home care?
CQC’s home care list includes care records, medicines records and audits, training, appraisal and supervision records, staffing and skill mix records, risk assessments and emergency arrangements, complaints and feedback records, and governance and quality systems.
What is “processes” evidence?
CQC defines processes as the steps, arrangements or activities a provider carries out to deliver safe care. Evidence includes audits, learning from incidents and care or clinical records.
What is observation evidence?
Observing care and the care environment, mostly by CQC inspectors on site, including how staff deliver care, equipment and the environment.
Do inspectors talk to staff and people who use the service?
Yes. CQC lists feedback from people, interviews or focus groups with staff, interviews with leaders and whistleblowing among its evidence. See our guide to preparing staff.
What evidence do I need for Well-led?
Examples include governance arrangements, quality management reports, business continuity and risk registers, Fit and Proper Person evidence, registered manager changes, whistleblowing records, and evidence of embedding learning and improvement.
Is digital evidence acceptable to CQC?
CQC gathers evidence on and off site and has published guidance on digital records. Whatever the format, records need to be accurate, current and show who did what and when. See our guide to digital care records and CQC expectations.
How do I know I have enough evidence?
There is no number. Check each quality statement against the six categories, confirm records are current, and test them with a mock inspection. See our mock inspection questions.
What triggers a CQC inspection?
CQC can assess in response to information of concern, such as complaints, safeguarding alerts or whistleblowing, as well as planned assessments. See our guide to how often CQC inspects.
What are the five CQC key questions?
Is the service safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.