Responsive · KLOE 3
Timely and equitable access
Does the service ensure that everyone can access equitable and timely care, support and treatment?
CQC wording, draft v9, pages 46 to 47.
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:
- Access to services
- Accessible premises and equipment
- Reasonable adjustments and communication needs (as they relate to access, including sensory needs)
- Digital exclusion (communication barriers)
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 46 to 47.
HLTH analysis
What this could mean in practice
People should receive timely and equitable access, with physical, communication, sensory and digital barriers anticipated and removed.
Access should reflect individual needs, including reasonable adjustments and support for people most likely to experience delays or exclusion. Feedback and other information should help identify where discrimination or service design creates avoidable barriers.
Evidence and conversations to explore
- Experiences of delays and access barriers
- Reasonable adjustments in practice
- Learning from access feedback and inequalities
Questions worth asking
- Which people are most likely to encounter barriers or delays?
- How are accessibility needs identified before they affect access?
- How does feedback lead to practical improvements in timely access?
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
- People’s experience of care is seamless. Care, support and treatment is delivered promptly and equitably, setting a benchmark for inclusive practices.
- The service consistently demonstrates proactive leadership and exceeds requirements in equality and human rights, embedding fairness and dignity in every interaction. It champions inclusion and anticipates needs.
- The approach to designing services prioritises universal accessibility, ensuring potential barriers are identified and eliminated before they can impact people’s ability to access care.
- Accessibility is innovative and co-designed with people.
- Leaders and staff maintain exceptional vigilance, actively challenging and addressing discrimination and fostering a culture of equity.
- Meaningful feedback from people and communities, as well as other relevant evidence, drives continuous improvement. The evidence Is used to prioritise and improve access for those most likely to experience delays in accessing care.
Good
- People can access care, support and treatment, including physically, when they need it and in a way that works for them. which promotes equality, removes barriers or delays and protects their rights.
- Reasonable adjustments are understood and made to ensure equal access to the service for all. This removes barriers for people who find it hard to access services.
- The service is designed to be accessible and available for people at the point of need, including those most likely to have difficulty accessing care. When there are barriers that prevent equitable access, they are removed.
- Where applicable, the service supports and enables people to be accompanied to appointments, without unnecessary restrictions.
- Leaders and staff are alert to discrimination and inequality that disadvantage different groups of people in accessing their service whether this is from wider society, within organisational processes and culture, or from other people.
- The service seeks people’s feedback and other evidence and uses this to improve access for people who are more likely to experience barriers or delays in accessing their care.
Requires improvement
- People using the service experience some barriers to accessing the care or support they need, when they need it, particularly because of their protected equality characteristics.
- There are shortfalls in how the needs and preferences of different people are taken into account, for example on the grounds of protected equality characteristics.
- The service does not consistently make reasonable adjustments to make sure everyone using the service has equitable access to care and support and without unfair delays.
- Leaders and staff do not fully understand how inequality and discrimination affect different groups of people and disadvantages some from getting care, support and treatment.
- The service does not consistently ensure it learns from people’s feedback and other evidence to improve access for people more likely to experience barriers or delays in accessing their care.
Inadequate
- People face significant barriers in accessing their care, support and treatment because the service fails to understand or consider their individual needs. This includes failing to understand or recognise people’s needs based on their protected equality characteristics and their rights.
- The service fails to make reasonable adjustments for people in line with their protected equality characteristics.
- Leaders and staff do not understand the impact of inequality and discrimination on people when accessing the service.
- The service does not learn from people’s feedback and other evidence, so access for people more likely to experience barriers or delays in accessing their care is not improved as a result.
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.