CQC Self-Assessment: Are You Ready for Inspection Today?

CQC doesn’t publish an official self-assessment tool — which is exactly why so many services either skip the exercise or build one that misses the point. Here’s how to run one that actually reflects readiness.

Free tool: Free CQC readiness score quiz — answer 15 quick questions and get an instant readiness score across CQC’s five key questions — no account needed.

CQC does not publish a mandatory self-assessment template for care providers. Its own Assessment Framework guidance sets out how services are judged — five key questions, 34 quality statements, six evidence categories — but it stops short of handing providers a ready-made checklist to mark their own homework against. That gap is exactly why a structured internal self-assessment matters: without one, the first honest answer to “are we ready?” often arrives during the inspection itself.

What “Ready” Actually Means

A useful self-assessment answers one question for each of the five domains: if CQC walked in today, could you produce current, specific evidence — not a policy that says the right thing, but a dated record showing it’s actually happening? A score based on whether policies exist is close to meaningless; a score based on whether evidence exists and is current is the one that predicts a real inspection outcome.

The Five Domains: What to Check in Each

Safe

• Medicines audits completed and dated within the last month, with any issues showing a documented follow-up
• Risk assessments reflecting each resident’s current situation, not their situation when they were admitted
• Safeguarding referrals and CQC notifications logged with dates and outcomes, not just filed as “done”

Effective

• Care plans updated after the most recent change in need, with a visible date and reason
• Staff training records current and mapped against your actual required course list, not just a generic matrix
• Evidence that changes in a resident’s health are actually acted on, not just recorded

Caring

• Recent, specific examples of dignity and person-centred care in daily notes, not generic entries
• Evidence residents and relatives know how to raise a concern, and that this has actually happened recently

Responsive

• Every complaint — formal and informal — logged, responded to, and closed with an outcome
• Care plans that reflect individual preferences specifically, not a template applied to everyone

Well-led

• Governance meetings happening on schedule with minutes that record decisions and follow-up, not just attendance
• A registered manager who can name the service’s current top three risks without checking notes
• An audit programme with dated outcomes, not just a completed checklist

Self-Assessment vs. Mock Inspection: You Need Both

A self-assessment checks whether your systems and evidence exist and are current. A mock inspection tests whether your staff can demonstrate that evidence under real questioning. A service can score well on a self-assessment and still struggle at a real inspection if staff can’t articulate what the paperwork says — see our guide to running a genuine mock inspection for the second half of this preparation.

Summary: What a Genuine CQC Self-Assessment Must Include

1. A separate score or status for each of the five key questions, not one blended number
2. Evidence checked for currency, not just existence — dated within a defined recent window
3. A named owner responsible for each domain’s evidence, not the registered manager alone
4. A monthly review cycle, plus an immediate re-check after any material change
5. Input from staff across all shifts, not only daytime management
6. A follow-up mock inspection to test whether staff can demonstrate the evidence, not just whether it exists
7. A tracked action for every gap identified, with a deadline and named owner

CQC Self-Assessment Template for Care Providers

If you searched for a “CQC self assessment template”, note that the CQC self-assessment pages that rank first on Google are for local authorities, not for care providers. For a care home or home care agency you build your own, using CQC’s five key questions and the scoring method CQC uses. Copy this into a spreadsheet:

How to score. CQC gives each quality statement a score from 1 to 4: 1 is significant shortfalls, 2 some shortfalls, 3 a good standard and 4 an exceptional standard. Add the scores for a key question and divide by the maximum (statements multiplied by 4). In CQC’s bands, 88% and above is Outstanding, 63% to 87% Good, 39% to 62% Requires Improvement and 25% to 38% Inadequate. Score each key question separately so a strong area does not hide a weak one. Our mock inspection template has the full scoring sheet for all 34 quality statements.

A worked example. Responsive, statement “Listening to and involving people”: evidence held is the complaints log (12 entries, all closed), two relatives’ meetings and a feedback survey from June. Gap: no record of changes made after the survey. Score 2. Action: record the three changes made and share them with relatives, owner: registered manager, due 20 November. Re-score when the evidence is on file.

Five steps to do your own self-assessment.

1. List the key questions and quality statements.
2. For each, list the dated evidence you could show today, from records, observation and what people say.
3. Score it 1 to 4 honestly, and record the gap.
4. Give every gap an owner and due date.
5. Repeat on a schedule, for example quarterly, and compare scores over time.

Pair it with a mock inspection, which tests the same areas by walking the service. See also the five key questions and the improvement plan guide.