Caring · KLOE 1
Kindness, compassion and dignity
Are people treated with kindness, empathy, compassion and respect, and is their privacy and dignity maintained?
CQC wording, draft v9, pages 33 to 35.
Draft, not the current assessment framework
CQC's adult social care draft v9, dated 19 March 2026. The current quality statements remain in use.
CQC draft scope
What this proposed KLOE covers
Scope of this key line of enquiry and topic areas include:
- Dignity, respect and privacy
- Confidentiality
- Communication
- Caring and compassion
- Emotional wellbeing
- Anticipating need and responding quickly
How would this apply to your service?
The draft applies one framework across adult social care, but useful evidence depends on your service and people.
Source: Adult social care assessment framework, draft v9, 19 March 2026, pages 33 to 35.
HLTH analysis
What this could mean in practice
Every interaction should protect dignity, privacy and confidentiality while showing kindness, empathy, respect and concern for wellbeing.
Staff should listen carefully, communicate in ways people understand and respond promptly to discomfort, distress or urgent needs. Compassion should be visible across roles and supported by a culture that challenges disrespectful or task-focused practice.
Evidence and conversations to explore
- People's experiences of everyday interactions
- Responses to discomfort, distress and urgent needs
- Privacy, confidentiality and respectful communication
Questions worth asking
- How do people describe the kindness and respect shown in everyday care?
- How do staff learn what dignity and privacy mean to each person?
- What happens when communication or behaviour falls below expected standards?
HLTH's interpretation of CQC's 19 March 2026 draft. This is not current CQC guidance, an official interpretation, a checklist or a rating prediction. Reviewed 17 September 2026.
CQC draft rating characteristics
How the draft describes each rating
These are CQC's draft characteristics. CQC says rating characteristics guide judgements, they are not a mechanical checklist.
Outstanding
- There is a visible culture of kindness and respect across all staff in all roles, which is embedded into every interaction.
- Staff in all roles are highly motivated and enabled to offer care and support that is genuinely compassionate and kind and is evident through strong communication and connections. Staff care for individual people and each other in a way that exceeds expectations.
- The service ensures that staff focus on building and maintaining open and honest relationships with people and their families, friends and other carers and those close to them.
Good
- There is a culture of kindness and respect across teams. People feel cared for with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect.
- Staff communicate clearly, in a kind and respectful way. They actively listen to people to understand and respond to their individual needs and preferences. Staff understand what privacy and dignity specifically means for the individual people they support.
- Staff genuinely care about people’s wellbeing and show it in a thoughtful, meaningful way. They promptly respond to people’s emotions, discomfort, distress, or urgent needs in a positive way. This protects their rights and dignity and staff learn to understand the causes of people’s distress to avoid it happening again in the future.
- People’s privacy, confidentiality, and respect are consistently upheld. Staff are discreet and challenge behaviour and practices that fall short of this. Staff have a clear understanding of the boundaries of confidentiality and work within these.
- Staff prioritise and anticipate people’s comfort and wellbeing needs. They use appropriate tools and communication to meet needs effectively and to avoid any preventable discomfort, concern or distress.
Requires improvement
- People are not consistently treated with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect. There may be concerns about the way some staff treat people.
- Not all communication is clear, kind or respectful. Staff do not take the time to actively listen to people and do not understand people’s individual needs and preferences or deliver care in line with these.
- Staff do not consistently respond appropriately to people’s discomfort, distress, or urgent needs.
- People’s communication needs are not consistently met. People are not meaningfully supported to engage in their care, support and treatment.
- People’s privacy and confidentiality is not consistently respected and maintained.
Inadequate
- People are not treated with kindness, compassion, dignity or respect. Staff are unkind or lack compassion. This may be widespread and serious.
- Communication with people is poor, unkind, disrespectful or discriminatory. People may be treated in a patronising way. Staff do not consider people’s individual needs and preferences or deliver care in line with these.
- Staff lack concern for people’s wellbeing. People’s needs are not appropriately responded to, such as signs of distress or discomfort. They are ignored or staff respond negatively.
- The service is task-focused, and staff are not supported or encouraged to provide care and support in a compassionate and supportive way. Some staff show kindness and compassion, but the service does not recognise, value or encourage this.
- Staff do not understand the importance of privacy and confidentiality, so this is not respected or maintained or is purposely disregarded.
Want to know how your service would fare?
Book a mock inspection run against the draft KLOEs, or call 020 8090 5346 to speak to one of our experts.