The Caring Key Question.Three KLOEs, in plain English.
Under the 2026 CQC framework, the Caring Key Question asks whether “staff involve and treat you with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect” — across three Key Lines of Enquiry.
Based on CQC's draft Adult Social Care Assessment Framework, version 9 — in consultation until 12 June 2026.
The person at the centre of their own care.
Caring is about how care feels to the person receiving it — kindness and dignity, genuine person-centred care, and the independence, relationships and choices that make a life their own. Its three KLOEs are where warmth is judged.
It is also the Key Question hardest to evidence. Kindness leaves little trace on a task-focused record. The shortfall is rarely uncaring staff — it is care recorded as tasks, with no sign of the person it was for.
The three Caring KLOEs.
KLOE 1Kindness, compassion and dignity
"Are people treated with kindness, empathy, compassion and respect, and is their privacy and dignity maintained?"
- Dignity, respect and privacy
- Confidentiality
- Communication
- Caring and compassion
- Emotional wellbeing
- Anticipating need and responding quickly
Daily notes that capture the person, not just the task; dignity and wellbeing fields in the daily record; role-based access protecting confidentiality.
KLOE 2Person-centred care
"Do people receive personalised care, which ensures they are at the centre of their care, support and treatment choices?"
- Appropriate and personalised care, support and treatment
- Empowerment and decision making
- Meeting personal, cultural, social, spiritual and religious needs
About Me and personalised care plans; preferences and cultural and spiritual needs surfaced to carers at the point of care.
KLOE 3Independence, choice and control
"Are people supported and empowered to maintain their independence, relationships, and choice over their care and plans for the future?"
- Supporting communication and lifestyle choice
- Access to friends, family and community
- Supporting relationships and networks
- Activities and wellbeing
- DNACPR/ReSPECT and advance decisions
- End of life and palliative care
Goals and activities tracking; the family portal; native ReSPECT and DNACPR recording; end-of-life care plans.
Every KLOE across all five Key Questions — with the verbatim inspector question and full scope — is on the all 24 KLOEs reference.
Make the person visible in the record.
Caring evidence is built one daily note at a time. FlexiEle is designed so a carer records the person — the chat in the garden room, the preference honoured, the family kept close — not just the task completed.
About Me, the family portal and personalised plans turn warmth into something an inspector can actually see.
- Daily notes that record the person, not only the task
- About Me and personalised, preference-led plans
- The family portal as evidence of involvement
- Goals, activities and independence tracked over time
- ReSPECT, DNACPR and end-of-life wishes recorded
- Each filed to the right Caring KLOE, as it happens.
See your Caring evidence, mapped.
Book a 20-minute demo and we'll walk the three Caring KLOEs against a service like yours — and show how the person stays visible in the record. No slides, no pressure.