Well-led · KLOE 5
Partnerships and communities
Is the service working effectively and collaboratively with people who use the service and partners to support care provision and service development?
CQC wording, draft v9, pages 61 to 62.
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:
- Sharing good practice and learning
- Partnership working and collaboration
- Involvement and coproduction
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 61 to 62.
HLTH analysis
What this could mean in practice
Effective partnerships should involve people, communities and other organisations in shared learning, service development and joined-up care.
Collaboration should begin early, value diverse perspectives and recognise where others can improve ideas or outcomes. People and community partners should have meaningful influence over design, delivery and evaluation instead of being consulted only after decisions.
Evidence and conversations to explore
- People's influence on service development
- Partnership working and shared learning
- Breadth and continuity of community involvement
Questions worth asking
- Who is treated as an equal partner when services are designed or improved?
- How does collaboration with external partners change people's experiences?
- Which community perspectives are missing or under-represented?
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
- The service takes a proactive lead role in building on shared learning to improve inequalities and services across adult social care locally, regionally or nationally.
- It uses collaboration and joint initiatives to enhance how services are delivered, improve outcomes for people, and foster innovation.
- Collaboration is deeply embedded at every level.
- People who use services, staff and local stakeholders are meaningfully involved as equal partners in the design, delivery, and evaluation of services. Co-production is embedded in the service’s culture, with diverse voices actively shaping decisions. Engagement is inclusive and sustained.
- The service is embedded in the community it serves and is considered a valued partner by others in the community.
Good
- Staff and leaders are open and transparent, and they work collaboratively with all relevant external stakeholders and agencies.
- Staff and leaders work in partnership with people and other organisations, so that services work as seamlessly as possible for people.
- The service has strong external relationships and all staff including leaders engage early with people, communities, and partners to share learning with each other, which results in continuous improvements to the service. They understand that they cannot solve everything on their own and reach out to others, using these networks to identify new or innovative ideas that can lead to better outcomes for people.
- The service maintains positive relationships with the local community and works well with community partners.
Requires improvement
- The service does not always work collaboratively and cooperatively with external partners and other services. It does not always share information and good practice effectively.
- The service does not consistently involve others or work in partnership with people and communities to share learning to improve the service and outcomes for people.
- The service talks to some community members, but this is not representative of the whole community, and people’s experience and knowledge are not valued and used consistently to improve services.
Inadequate
- There is poor collaboration or co-operation with external partners and other services. There is little or no evidence of partnership working.
- The service does not share good practice or learning with others. There is little or no evidence of engagement with the wider system, and opportunities to contribute to collective improvement are routinely overlooked.
- People, staff, the public and community are not meaningfully involved in designing the service or how it is delivered. Engagement is minimal or absent, and involvement or collaboration are not invited.
- There is no clear approach to co-production. The service is developed and improved with minimal or no input from the people it supports.
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.