The 5 CQC Key Questions: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led Explained (2026)
What the five key questions are, what each one asks of a care home or home care agency, how they connect to quality statements, standards and ratings, and what to check for each before an inspector does.
The five CQC key questions are the questions CQC asks of every health and social care service in England: is it safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led? CQC rates each key question and combines the ratings into an overall rating. They are not the same as the fundamental standards, which are the legal minimum (14 on CQC’s list), or KLOEs. Under each key question CQC currently assesses quality statements, 34 in total: 8 for Safe, 6 for Effective, 5 for Caring, 7 for Responsive and 8 for Well-led. Its 2026 draft frameworks keep the five key questions.
This guide is for registered managers, nominated individuals and care leaders in care homes and home care agencies in England. It explains the five key questions in plain English, shows how they fit with quality statements, evidence, regulations and ratings, clears up the common mix-ups (“5 standards”, “5 principles”, “5 KLOEs”) and gives you things to check under each one. It is based on CQC’s own pages, linked in the sources section. Where we give examples or suggestions, they are ours, not CQC requirements.
Key takeaways
- There are five key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led. They apply to all health and social care services.
- They are questions CQC asks, not standards. The legal standards are the fundamental standards in regulations.
- Each key question is rated, and the five ratings are combined into the overall rating, with equal weight.
- Under each key question sit quality statements (34 in total today) and, from 2026 drafts, possibly key lines of enquiry.
- CQC’s evidence comes from six sources: people’s experience, staff and leaders, partners, observation, processes and outcomes.
In this guide
- The five key questions
- How the key questions fit with quality statements, standards and regulations
- 5 standards, 5 principles, 5 KLOEs: what is the difference?
- How CQC gathers evidence under the key questions
- How the key questions are rated
- What to check under each key question
- Are the key questions changing in 2026?
- Sources and how this was checked
- Frequently asked questions
The five key questions
CQC’s key questions page sets out what it asks of every service. In our words:
| Key question | What CQC is asking | In a care home, for example | In home care, for example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safe | Are people protected from abuse and avoidable harm? | Medicines handled safely, enough trained staff, safeguarding acted on, safe premises and infection control | Visits happen on time, risks in people’s homes assessed, lone working managed, medicines records complete |
| Effective | Does care achieve good outcomes, help people keep their quality of life and follow the best available evidence? | Assessments, trained and supervised staff, consent and capacity, nutrition, working with GPs and nurses | Pre-service assessments, induction and spot checks, working with district nurses, daily notes showing outcomes |
| Caring | Do staff involve people and treat them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect? | How staff speak to and support people, privacy in personal care, involvement in decisions | Regular carers who know people, unhurried visits, respect for people’s homes and routines |
| Responsive | Are services organised to meet people’s needs? | Person-centred care plans, activities, complaints answered, choices honoured | Flexible visit times, plans reviewed with people, complaints handled, requests acted on |
| Well-led | Do leadership, management and governance ensure high-quality, person-centred care, learning and innovation, and an open and fair culture? | Audits that find and fix problems, visible leaders, staff able to speak up, notifications made | Governance meetings, missed visit analysis, spot checks, provider oversight |
The last two columns are our examples of what inspectors may look at. They are not CQC wording.
How the key questions fit with quality statements, standards and regulations
CQC’s assessment framework is made up of the five key questions and, under each, a set of quality statements. The quality statements are commitments providers should live up to, written as “we statements”, and they relate to the regulations CQC considers in its judgements.
| Key question | Quality statements today | Examples of quality statements |
|---|---|---|
| Safe | 8 | Learning culture, safeguarding, safe and effective staffing, medicines optimisation, infection prevention and control |
| Effective | 6 | Assessing needs, evidence-based care and treatment, how staff and services work together, consent to care and treatment |
| Caring | 5 | Kindness, compassion and dignity, treating people as individuals, independence, choice and control |
| Responsive | 7 | Person-centred care, providing information, listening to and involving people, planning for the future |
| Well-led | 8 | Shared direction and culture, capable and inclusive leaders, freedom to speak up, governance, learning and innovation |
See the full list in our guide to the 34 CQC quality statements. The quality statements also have “I statements”, which reflect what people say matters to them and help CQC gather and act on people’s experiences.
5 standards, 5 principles, 5 KLOEs: what is the difference?
Searches for “the 5 CQC standards”, “5 principles of CQC” or “5 KLOEs” usually mean the five key questions. These are different things:
| Term | What it is | How many |
|---|---|---|
| Key questions | The five questions CQC asks of every service and rates | 5 |
| Fundamental standards | The legal minimum standards in regulations. See fundamental standards explained | 14 on CQC’s current list |
| Quality statements | Commitments under each key question that CQC currently assesses against | 34 |
| KLOEs (key lines of enquiry) | CQC’s original questions under each key question, replaced from late 2023 and proposed to return in 2026 drafts. See what are CQC KLOEs | 24 in the original adult social care list |
| Evidence categories | Where CQC gets evidence: people’s experience, staff and leaders, partners, observation, processes, outcomes | 6 |
| Principles, “5 new standards” | We found no CQC list of five principles or five new standards. CQC has not replaced the five key questions | – |
How CQC gathers evidence under the key questions
CQC gathers evidence from six sources and uses it to decide how the service is doing against each key question:
- People’s experience of care, from people, families and carers.
- Feedback from staff and leaders.
- Feedback from partners, such as GPs, social workers and commissioners.
- Observation of care, interactions and the environment.
- Processes: records, policies, audits, training and governance.
- Outcomes of care.
See what inspectors ask for in what evidence CQC inspectors look for.
How the key questions are rated
CQC gives a rating for each key question: Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate. For adult social care, CQC’s rating principles say the five key questions are all equally important and are weighted equally when combined into an overall service rating. Normally:
| Overall rating | Normally when |
|---|---|
| Outstanding | At least two key questions are Outstanding and the others are Good |
| Good | No key question is Inadequate and no more than one is Requires improvement |
| Requires improvement | Two or more key questions are Requires improvement |
| Inadequate | Two or more key questions are Inadequate |
CQC says it uses professional judgement and may depart from the principles where concerns justify it. The score bands CQC publishes are 88 to 100% for Outstanding, 63 to 87% Good, 39 to 62% Requires improvement and 38% or lower Inadequate. See CQC ratings explained.
What to check under each key question
Our suggestion for a quick self-check. For a scored version use the free mock inspection template.
| Key question | Ask yourself | Evidence to have |
|---|---|---|
| Safe | Could we show a safeguarding concern was acted on this month? Are medicines records complete? Are rotas matched to needs? | Safeguarding log, medicines audit, dependency or visit data |
| Effective | Do plans come from an assessment with the person? Are training and supervision current? Are capacity and consent recorded? | Assessments, training matrix, supervision records |
| Caring | Do we observe kindness and dignity ourselves? What do people and families say? | Observation notes, feedback |
| Responsive | Are plans personal and reviewed? Do complaints change anything? | Plans with reviews, complaints log with learning |
| Well-led | Do audits find problems, and are actions closed with evidence? Does the provider see the results? | Audit schedule, action log, governance minutes |
Are the key questions changing in 2026?
No. CQC’s draft sector frameworks, published in March 2026, keep the five key questions but would replace quality statements with key lines of enquiry and remove scoring. They are not in force, and current guidance applies until CQC implements the new approach. See CQC’s new assessment framework for 2026.
Sources and how this was checked
- CQC: The 5 key questions we ask.
- CQC: Assessment framework.
- CQC: Levels of ratings (rating principles for adult social care) and CQC: Our ratings and scores (score bands).
- Pages read 25 October 2026 for comparison: Delphi, Kata Care.
The care home and home care examples, self-check and mix-up table are our summaries, not CQC wording.
Organise your evidence by key question
CQCLogic organises improvement plan actions and evidence by CQC key question, with owners, deadlines and proof tracked against each action. It does not submit anything to CQC. See a sample improvement plan, view pricing or get started free.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 5 key questions CQC asks?
Is the service safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led? CQC asks these of all health and social care services in England, rates each one and combines the ratings into an overall rating.
What are the 5 key lines of enquiry in CQC?
There are five key questions, not five key lines of enquiry. KLOEs were CQC’s original sub-questions under each key question (24 in the adult social care list), replaced by quality statements from late 2023 and proposed to return in CQC’s 2026 drafts.
What are the 5 new CQC standards?
We found no CQC list of five new standards. The five key questions have not changed. The legal standards are the fundamental standards, which CQC lists as 14.
What are the 5 principles of CQC?
CQC does not publish five principles that we could find. People usually mean the five key questions. For ratings, CQC does publish principles that decide how key question ratings combine into an overall rating.
Are the key questions the same as the fundamental standards?
No. The key questions are what CQC asks and rates. The fundamental standards are the legal minimum in the regulations. Breaching them can lead to enforcement.
What is the difference between key questions and quality statements?
Key questions are the five headline questions. Quality statements sit under them: 34 today (Safe 8, Effective 6, Caring 5, Responsive 7, Well-led 8). Each is a commitment providers should live up to.
Which key question is most important?
CQC says all five are equally important and weights them equally when combining ratings. Well-led often drives the others because governance finds and fixes problems.
How is each key question rated?
CQC rates each key question Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate. Under its current scoring, bands are 88 to 100% Outstanding, 63 to 87% Good, 39 to 62% Requires improvement and 38% or lower Inadequate.
Do the five key questions apply to home care?
Yes. CQC applies the same five key questions to care homes, home care and other services, assessing each service against the relevant evidence.
Will the key questions change in 2026?
CQC’s draft frameworks keep the five key questions. They propose replacing quality statements with key lines of enquiry and removing scoring. They are not yet in force.