Well-led · KLOE 3

Capable and compassionate leaders

Do leaders at all levels have the capacity and capability to effectively deliver high quality care with accountability and empathy?

CQC wording, primary care and community services draft V6.0, pages 50 to 52.

Draft, not the current assessment framework

CQC's primary care and community services draft V6.0, published 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:

The draft applies one framework across primary care and community services, but useful evidence depends on your service and people.

Source: CQC, Primary care and community services assessment framework, draft V6.0, 19 March 2026, pages 50 to 52. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

CQC draft rating characteristics

These are CQC's draft characteristics. CQC says rating characteristics guide judgements, they are not a mechanical checklist.

Leaders at all levels are compassionate, inclusive and effective. Leadership is distributed, supportive and people focused, with leaders at all levels empowered to deliver excellent and sustainable care.
Leaders are proactively visible, accessible and responsive. They embody integrity and openness, and build strong relationships with staff and people who use the service through inclusive and transparent engagement. A high level of visibility and engagement with leaders results in demonstrable improvements to people’s experience and outcomes, including those in marginalised and under-served groups.
Leaders demonstrate a deep understanding of local and system-wide priorities and embrace opportunities to make a positive impact on the population they serve.
There is strong collaboration and support across all functions. Staff are engaged, empowered and united by shared values, with a clear sense of belonging and a common focus on improving the quality of care and people’s experiences.
There is an embedded system of leadership development and succession planning, aligned to strategic priorities and future risk. It reflects the diversity of the workforce and supports staff to feel safe, speak up, and grow through learning and development opportunities.

Leaders have the capacity, capability and integrity to ensure that the service can deliver its vision and strategy.
The leadership is supportive, inclusive and people focused, enabling the delivery of safe, effective and compassionate care.
Leaders are held to account for the delivery of high-quality care, with clear consequences where expectations are not met.
Leaders at every level are visible and lead by example, modelling integrity, empathy and openness. They are culturally sensitive and non-discriminatory.
Leaders are knowledgeable about the issues and priorities of their service such as health inequalities, and the social and cultural contexts that may affect staff and people who use the service.
Leaders at all levels can access appropriate support and development in their role.
High-quality leadership is sustained through effective and inclusive recruitment and succession planning.

Not all leaders have the capacity, capability or integrity to ensure the service can deliver its vision and strategy.
Staff do not always know who their leaders are or how to access to them. Leaders do not prioritise modelling attributes such as integrity and empathy.
Leaders are not fully aware of all the risks, issues and challenges in the service.
Leaders are not always clear about their role or their accountability for quality.
Leaders are not always alert to anything that may demonstrate a poor culture. There is limited understanding about how this relates to the quality of people’s care.
Support and development for leaders is limited. Leadership recruitment and succession planning is not always considered.

Leaders do not have the capacity, capability or integrity to lead effectively. There is no stable leadership team, with high unplanned turnover or vacancies.
Staff lack trust in leaders. Staff do not know who their leaders are or are unable to access them.
Leaders are out of touch with what is happening in the service. They cannot identify or do not understand the risks, issues and challenges described by staff.
Leaders do not know how to prevent a poor culture or how this relates to the quality of people’s care.
There is little or no attention to succession planning and the development of leaders.
There are few examples of leaders making a demonstrable impact on the quality of the service.

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