For care providers, understanding this direction is essential for maintaining compliance, reducing regulatory risk and delivering positive outcomes for people who draw on care and support.
1. Amplifying the voices of people at greater risk of poorer care experiences
“4-year ambition – We uphold rights and challenge inequality through responding to experiences from a diverse range of people. This is embedded in our ways of working through measurable progress in each directorate”
The CQC has set out plans to better listen to people who are more likely to have a poorer experience of care or face barriers when accessing services. This work follows the NHS Core20PLUS approach and aims to ensure people’s rights are upheld and inequalities are challenged.
A key part of this commitment is embedding anti-racism principles and the social model of disability into how care is assessed and regulated.
- Hearing directly from people who are more likely to experience poorer care as assessment systems are updated
- Making communication clearer, more accessible and easier to understand
- Increasing the involvement of Experts by Experience, particularly people with protected characteristics
- Creating safer ways for people to raise concerns about inequality or discrimination
- Improving how concerns and cases are tracked and followed up
- Strengthening local outreach work already underway through existing equality objectives
Together, these changes are intended to ensure that people’s voices are heard more consistently and that care systems respond more effectively to inequality.
- Core20PLUS – NHS England has developed an approach to help reduce health inequalities called Core20PLUS. This approach helps identify groups of people most likely to have poorer access, experience or outcomes of health and care.
- Core20 – The Core20 are the most deprived 20% of the national population, as identified by the national index of multiple deprivation.
- PLUS – The PLUS population groups are identified at a local level. The groups identified include people from ethnic minority communities; people with a learning disability and autistic people; individuals with multiple long-term health conditions; and other groups with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. This also includes inclusion health groups such as people experiencing homelessness, people with drug or alcohol dependence, vulnerable migrants and refugees, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, people in contact with the justice system, victims of modern slavery, sex workers, and other marginalised groups.
2 – Develop systems to gather equality data to better understand and respond to equality risks
“4-year ambition – We collect and use equality monitoring data across registration, monitoring, assessment, enforcement and contact services”
The CQC has set out a four-year ambition to strengthen how equality monitoring data is collected and used across its regulatory activity, including registration, monitoring, assessment, enforcement and contact services.
This includes investing in improved systems to capture equality data more consistently, particularly in areas where the CQC is the primary data collector. The intention is to ensure that equality considerations are embedded both in immediate data development work and within longer-term data strategy.
This focus supports the CQC’s anti-racism commitments, its duties under the Public Sector Equality Duty, and its wider ambition to better understand and respond to inequality risks. The CQC has also confirmed that work is already underway to align its equality data collection categories with those used by other national bodies, supporting consistency and comparability.
3 Improve equity by using our regulatory and monitoring activities
“4-year ambition, we use our regulatory and monitoring functions to improve equity for people. We will improve our regulatory impact in workforce equality, equity in access, experience or outcomes, Mental Health Act monitoring activities, in line with our regulatory model”
The CQC has confirmed it will set year-on-year targets to strengthen how equity is assessed across its regulatory activity. An initial focus will be on workforce equality, diversity and inclusion within the Well-led key question, reflecting research that shows a clear link between workplace inequality and the quality of care people receive.
Alongside this, the CQC will prioritise the quality of assessments, supported by increased use of equality, diversity and inclusion specialist advisors and an enhanced approach to assessing workforce equality, informed by its research findings.
Capacity will also be built to assess equity in service delivery and outcomes for specific groups. Early priorities include services supporting people with sickle cell disease and thalassaemia, and how mental health services are implementing the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework, including learning from research into Black men’s mental health. These priority areas will be reviewed annually.
To support this work, the CQC has committed to ensuring its teams receive appropriate training on health inequalities.
4 An inclusive workforce
“4-year ambition – We will focus on 3 priority areas from our equity, diversity and inclusion strategy for 2024-2027, fostering inclusion and belonging, recruiting talented colleagues and investing in our colleagues”
The CQC has outlined three key priorities from its 2024–2027 equity, diversity and inclusion strategy:
- Fostering inclusion and belonging – creating a truly inclusive working environment where all colleagues feel respected, valued and supported, including those with protected characteristics, caring responsibilities, or from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Every individual is encouraged to take personal responsibility for anti-racist and anti-ableist practice.
- Recruiting talented colleagues – providing an equitable recruitment experience to ensure fair opportunity for all. This includes removing barriers, such as adjustments for prospective disabled colleagues, and attracting skills and expertise that reflect the communities served.
- Investing in colleagues – supporting career development tailored to individual needs, addressing inequalities, and dismantling barriers. By valuing diverse skills and experiences, the CQC aims to enhance collective capability and improve the quality of its work.
How success will be measured
As the CQC develops and embeds its new equality objectives, success measures are currently being scoped and refined.
Progress will be reported through the CQC’s annual reporting, with a formal review planned at the midpoint of the four-year period. Where learning from this reset and rebuild phase indicates a need for change, the CQC has confirmed that the objectives may be revised from April 2027 to ensure they remain effective, proportionate and responsive.
Staying ahead of CQC expectations on equality, diversity and inclusion isn’t just about compliance — it’s about being proactive and confident in the care you provide.
To read the full CQC Guidance visit https://www.cqc.org.uk/about-us/how-we-do-our-job/equality/objectives/2025-2029
Confident Compliance with The CIA Group
At The CIA Group, our expert care quality consultants help providers:
- Review current systems and workforce practices against CQC standards
- Identify gaps and risks in compliance
- Provide clear, tailored actions to strengthen policies and practice
- Support leadership teams to embed sustainable improvements
Partnering with us means you can reduce regulatory risk, improve outcomes for the people you support, and demonstrate strong, proactive governance, giving you confidence for CQC inspections/assessments and everyday care.
If you’d like to discuss how care quality consultancy support can benefit your organisation, please get in touch: 01723 256120 | [email protected] or visit https://www.theciagroup.co.uk/