CQC’s Own Improvement Plan 2026-28: What It Means for Care Providers
CQC is rebuilding itself under a two-year improvement plan. Here is what the plan contains, what has been delivered, what has slipped, and what it changes for your service.
CQC’s improvement plan is the regulator’s own programme to rebuild how it works, set out in November 2025 and running to 2028. It covers a redesigned assessment framework, more assessments, a better registration service and new digital systems. It is not a plan you have to write. It changes how and when CQC assesses you, not your duty to keep your own improvement plan up to date.
If you searched for “CQC improvement plan” you may have expected a template for your own service, and that is a different thing. This page is about the plan CQC has published for itself. It matters to providers because it decides which services get assessed first, when the assessment framework changes, and what “good” will be measured against. If you need to write a plan for your own service, jump to your own improvement plan below.
Key takeaways
- CQC’s plan, published on 27 November 2025, focuses on actions to the end of 2026 and longer-term planning up to the end of 2028.
- It covers four things: how CQC regulates, how it is organised, its digital services and its registration process.
- CQC says it has passed its 9,000-assessment target, but the final new assessment framework has not been published and no go-live date has been given.
- Until the new approach is implemented, CQC says to keep following its current published guidance.
- Services with ratings more than six years old are among those CQC is prioritising for assessment.
In this guide
What Is CQC’s Own Improvement Plan?
CQC has been rebuilding itself since independent reviews criticised how it worked. Its own account cites reviews by Dr Penny Dash, Professor Sir Mike Richards and the Care Provider Alliance, plus an independent review of its IT. On 27 November 2025 it published “Our improvement plans for 2026“, which sets out a planned sequence of work with clear points to pause and review before moving on.
CQC describes the plan as immediate actions until the end of 2026 and longer-term planning for changes up to the end of 2028. Its January 2026 update summarises the aim as improvements to three areas: how it regulates, how it is organised and its digital services.
In short, this is the regulator’s turnaround plan. It is not guidance for providers, and it is not the same as the improvement plan CQC expects a service to keep after an inspection.
What the Plan Contains
| Workstream | What CQC says it will do |
|---|---|
| Regulatory process | Redesign the whole regulatory process, including new sector-specific assessment frameworks, guidance and methods |
| Testing and piloting | Test and pilot the new assessment approach and technology before rolling it out, with pilots running June to October 2026 |
| Digital services | Rebuild core digital services including the provider portal, and improve the quality and use of regulatory data |
| Registration | Keep improving the registration service, building on the homecare pilot, for quicker and clearer decisions |
| Leadership and structure | Operate through four sector Chief Inspectors, including one for adult social care and integrated care |
The November 2025 plan also set a rough sequence for the framework itself: public consultation to 11 December 2025, analysis and drafting from spring 2026, testing and piloting, then final frameworks and provider guidance with implementation at the end of 2026.
What CQC Has Delivered So Far
CQC’s own updates report progress against its 2025 commitments:
- Stuck assessments: about 500 assessment reports were waiting to be processed at the start of 2025, reduced to 4 by December 2025 (CQC, December 2025).
- Assessment targets: CQC set a target of at least 9,000 assessments between April 2025 and September 2026, including 5,013 in adult social care. By its August 2026 update it had completed more than 9,646 (CQC, August 2026).
- Consultation: the “Better regulation, better care” consultation closed on 11 December 2025 and received 1,703 submissions (CQC, January 2026).
- Draft frameworks: four draft sector frameworks were published in March 2026, and providers have been piloting them since June.
For what the draft adult social care framework actually contains, see our guide to the new CQC assessment framework.
What Has Not Happened Yet
The November 2025 plan pointed to final frameworks being published in summer 2026 and implemented at the end of the year. As of CQC’s latest update on 27 August 2026, that has not happened:
- CQC is still testing and piloting its draft frameworks, with pilots running until October and evaluation in November 2026.
- It plans sector-specific engagement in the autumn to refine frameworks, guidance and methods.
- It has not published a final framework or a go-live date.
Pilot judgements have no legal standing and do not affect a service’s rating. Take part if you are invited, but nothing in a pilot changes your regulatory status. We track the latest position on our framework page and update it when CQC publishes a date.
What It Means for Your Service
1. Keep working to the current framework
CQC’s May 2026 update is explicit: until it implements the new regulatory approach, continue to refer to the current published guidance on how it assesses quality and performance. That means the current quality statements still apply. See the quality statements list and what KLOEs are for how the two approaches relate.
2. Assessment priorities may bring CQC to you sooner
For adult social care, CQC says it is prioritising services with urgent emerging risks, services not assessed since registration where data suggests very high risk, services registered for over a year that have not been assessed, and services with a rating over six years old. It is also rolling out a lighter-touch approach for services that are rated Good in all five key questions, have a registered manager, have ratings over six years old, show no significant risk in its data and have no ongoing enforcement. If your rating is old, plan as if an assessment could arrive at short notice. See how often CQC inspects.
3. Your rating may be refreshed
CQC has said it recognises that providers want ratings that reflect current performance. An older rating is an opportunity as much as a risk: a fresh assessment can move it up if your evidence is current. That is easier to do from a standing start if you keep evidence dated and indexed all year.
4. Expect changes to the portal and registration
CQC is rebuilding the provider portal and its registration process, and says it will ask providers for feedback. Watch for those consultations and use them.
While CQC Works on Its Plan, Get Your Own in Order
CQC’s improvement plan does not change what inspectors will ask you: can you show how you find problems, fix them and prove the fix worked? A current improvement plan for your own service is still the clearest way to answer that. It works under the current framework, and it will carry across to whatever replaces it because it is built around evidence of change, not framework wording.
Our step-by-step guide covers how to write a CQC improvement plan, and the action plan template gives you a structure to start from. If you have already been rated Requires improvement or Inadequate, read how to improve your CQC rating.
CQCLogic takes the manual work out of it: it builds a structured improvement plan from your actual CQC inspection data within 24 hours, with every action linked to a concern, a regulation and the evidence to collect.
Build your own plan before CQC arrives
See what a finished plan looks like at cqclogic.co.uk/sample-plan/, see pricing, or get started free.
Six Things to Do Now
- Check the date of your current CQC rating. If it is more than six years old, treat an assessment as likely.
- Keep working to the current quality statements, and note where your evidence already maps across.
- Review your improvement plan for your own service and close any overdue actions.
- Index your evidence by key question so any inspector request takes seconds. Test it with our mock inspection questions.
- Make sure your registered manager and nominated individual know the assessment priorities above.
- Watch CQC’s improving how we work page each month for a go-live date, and take part in the autumn engagement if you can.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CQC’s improvement plan?
It is CQC’s own plan to rebuild how it regulates, published on 27 November 2025. It sets immediate actions to the end of 2026 and longer-term planning up to 2028, covering assessment frameworks, digital services, registration and CQC’s structure.
Is CQC’s improvement plan the same as a provider’s improvement plan?
No. CQC’s plan is about the regulator’s own performance. A provider’s improvement plan is your record of what you found, what you changed and the evidence it worked. Our guide to writing a CQC improvement plan covers the second.
When will the new CQC assessment framework start?
CQC has not published a go-live date. Its May 2026 update said it would implement the new approach later this year, and its August 2026 update said it is still testing and will hold sector engagement in the autumn. Until then, current guidance applies.
Do I need to change anything now because of CQC’s plan?
Not in law. Keep following the current published guidance and keep your evidence and improvement plan up to date. Preparing now means you are ready whichever framework CQC uses when it assesses you.
Why is CQC prioritising older ratings?
CQC’s May 2026 update says providers want ratings that reflect current performance, and it is prioritising services with older ratings, including adult social care services with a rating over six years old, and services never assessed.
Can I take part in CQC’s pilots?
Pilots run from June to October 2026 and participation is voluntary. CQC says there is no regulatory consequence for declining, and pilot judgements have no legal standing or effect on your rating.
Where can I read CQC’s plan myself?
On CQC’s Improving how we work page, which lists each update, including “Our improvement plans for 2026” from 27 November 2025 and the monthly updates since.
Sources: CQC: Our improvement plans for 2026 (27 Nov 2025) · CQC: Rebuilding CQC, progress during 2025 · CQC: January 2026 update · CQC: Priorities for delivering more assessments (May 2026) · CQC: Piloting, testing and evaluation (June 2026) · CQC: August 2026 update