All 24 KLOEs of the 2026 CQC framework.
Every Key Line of Enquiry — the inspector's question, the scope CQC will assess, and the FlexiEle evidence that answers it. Grouped by Key Question, anchored, and built to be used the week before an inspection.
Reproduced from CQC's draft Adult Social Care Assessment Framework, version 9 (19 March 2026) · last checked 16 May 2026.
24 KLOEs, five Key Questions, one reference.
CQC's draft framework groups 24 Key Lines of Enquiry under the five Key Questions — Safe (7), Effective (4), Caring (3), Responsive (4) and Well-led (6). Each entry below gives you the inspector's question word-for-word, the scope CQC will assess under it, and the part of FlexiEle that produces the evidence.
This is the draft framework, published for consultation — it may change before it goes live. We reproduce it because reading it in full helps every provider prepare, and we update this page whenever CQC revises the framework.
Safe
Responsive
What Good and Outstanding actually look like.
Alongside the 24 KLOEs, the framework publishes rating characteristics — CQC's plain descriptions of Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate. They replace the old numerical scoring: an inspector now weighs your evidence against these descriptions and judges it in the round.
Every Key Line of Enquiry, in full.
Safe
7 KLOEs"You are protected from abuse and avoidable harm."
KLOE 1Safety culture
"Is there a positive and equitable safety culture where risks are proactively managed, concerns are listened to, incidents are thoroughly investigated, and lessons are learned to improve care?"
- Safe culture
- Raising safety concerns
- Closed cultures
- Duty of candour
An immutable audit trail; the incident and duty-of-candour workflow with the learning loop closed; an anonymous speaking-up channel.
KLOE 2Managing risks during care and treatment
"Are risks to each person monitored and managed so that their care and treatment is safe and supportive?"
- Managing risk, deterioration and emergencies
- Positive risk taking
- People who are communicating a need, expressing feelings or an emotional reaction
- Restrictive practice
A live risk register on the care plan; MUST / Waterlow / NEWS2 scored and trended; restrictive-practice and MCA/DoLS recording; deterioration alerts.
KLOE 3Safe systems, pathways and transitions
"Are there systems to enable collaborative working across care pathways and services, to ensure that safety and continuity of care are prioritised?"
- Care co-ordination and information sharing
- Continuity and transitions of care
- Referrals
- Delegation
One shared record across the team; GP Connect-ready; structured handover and transfer records; referral tracking.
KLOE 4Safeguarding
"Does the service work with partners and people to protect their rights to live in safety and be free from abuse and improper treatment?"
- Safeguarding and human rights
- Deprivation of liberty
- Bullying, harassment and discrimination
- Sexual safety and empowerment
A safeguarding workflow that auto-routes concerns to the right people; DoLS recording; an immutable, time-stamped concern trail.
KLOE 5Safe environments and infection prevention and control
"Are potential risks within the care environment detected and managed appropriately to enable safe delivery of care for people and staff?"
- Premises (gas, electrical, fire safety)
- Equipment
- Infection prevention and control
- Environmental risks (heatwaves, flooding)
- Digital systems / technology assurance
Premises and equipment checks; IPC records; the risk register for environmental risks; and — for digital-systems assurance — our DSPT evidence and DCB0160 deployment pack.
KLOE 6Safe staffing
"Are there enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff who receive adequate support, supervision and development to keep people safe and meet their needs?"
- Workforce capacity and capability
- Safe recruitment (including DBS checks)
- Staffing levels and skills mix
- Skills, qualifications and revalidation
- Learning, development and competency
- Support and supervision
- Performance management
- People in positions of trust
The workforce module — DBS tracking, the training matrix and revalidation, supervision, the care-intensity rota, and sponsor-licence checks for people in positions of trust.
KLOE 7Safe medicines and treatments
"Are medicines and treatments safe and delivered in a timely way, in line with people's needs and preferences?"
- Roles, responsibilities and delegation
- Self-medication
- Safe administration and record keeping
- Consent and covert administration (MCA 2005, MHA 1983)
- Controlled drugs
- Storage and disposal
- Innovative medicines and MedTech safety
- Antimicrobial stewardship
- STOMP/STAMP
- Intravenous medicines, fluids and medical gases
The eMAR — prompt/assist/administer, a controlled-drug register, covert administration recorded against the MCA, and STOMP/STAMP and antimicrobial-stewardship pattern detection.
Effective
4 KLOEs"Your care, treatment and support achieves good outcomes, helps you to maintain quality of life and is based on the best available evidence."
KLOE 1Assessing needs
"Are people's needs holistically assessed and reviewed with them to maximise the effectiveness of their care, support and treatment?"
- Assessing needs (including accessibility and communication needs)
- Person-centred approach
- Care planning
- Assessment tools
PRSB-conformant care plans with About Me; native, scored assessment tools; automatic review cycles before a plan goes out of date.
KLOE 2Evidence-based care and equitable outcomes
"Is care, support and treatment delivered in line with legislation, evidence-based standards and good practice, to achieve equitable and good outcomes?"
- Good practice guidance and standards
- Equitable outcomes
- Monitoring and improving individual outcomes
- Nutrition and hydration
- Service accreditation schemes
Care plans built on recognised guidance; outcome tracking and trends; nutrition, hydration and fluid monitoring.
KLOE 3Supporting people to live healthier lives
"Are people encouraged and supported to manage their own health and wellbeing?"
- Health and wellbeing deterioration and prevention
- Supporting access to healthcare services
- Healthier lives promotion
- Keeping well in hot or cold weather
Health-action and appointment tracking; a healthcare-access log; wellbeing goals on the care plan; seasonal-risk prompts.
KLOE 4Consent to care and treatment
"Are people supported to understand and exercise their right to consent to care, support and treatment?"
- Consent
- Advocacy and support
- Communicating rights
- Mental Capacity Act 2005
Consent recording; capacity assessments and best-interest decisions; DoLS tracking; advocacy details held on the record.
Caring
3 KLOEs"Staff involve and treat you with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect."
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
- Specialist/adaptive equipment
- Supporting independence and personal goals
- Activities and wellbeing
- DNACPR/ReSPECT, advance statements and decisions
- End of life and palliative care
Goals and activities tracking; the family portal; native ReSPECT and DNACPR recording; end-of-life care plans.
Responsive
4 KLOEs"Services are organised so that they meet your needs."
KLOE 1Care provision, integration and continuity
"Is care co-ordinated and delivered in a flexible, joined-up way that reflects diverse needs and promotes choice and continuity?"
- Collaborative, coordinated and flexible working
- Provision of services
- Continuity of care, support and treatment
Continuity scoring built into the rota; one shared record across the team; flexible care-plan provision.
KLOE 2Listening to and responding to feedback
"Are people supported to give feedback and raise concerns, and are they confident that action will be taken as a result?"
- Feedback and complaints
- Access to advocacy and support to raise concerns
- Unpaid carer support
A complaints and feedback workflow with action tracking and closed-loop evidence; the family-portal feedback channel; a "you said, we did" trail.
KLOE 3Timely and equitable access
"Does the service ensure that everyone can access equitable and timely care, support and treatment?"
- Access to services
- Accessible premises and equipment
- Reasonable adjustments and communication needs
- Digital exclusion
Visit verification and timeliness reporting; reasonable-adjustment flags on the record; accessible family updates.
KLOE 4Equity in experiences
"Does the service tailor people's care, support and treatment effectively, to ensure equity in experiences?"
- Barriers experienced during care
- Inequalities in experience
- Reasonable adjustments and communication needs
- Equality and human rights duties
- Experiences of seldom-heard groups
- Accessibility, transparency and communication
- Translation and interpreting services
Equity reporting by protected characteristic, language and region; a multi-language family portal; reasonable-adjustment recording.
Well-led
6 KLOEs"The leadership, management and governance of the organisation make sure it's providing high-quality care that's based around your individual needs, that it encourages learning and innovation, and that it promotes an open and fair culture."
KLOE 1Strategic direction
"Is there a clear vision and strategy to support the current and future needs of people and promote a positive culture?"
- Strategy and vision
- Values and culture
- Service sustainability
- Staff feedback
Agency-cost, occupancy and retention dashboards that evidence the operational sustainability of the service; staff-feedback capture.
KLOE 2Workforce equity and culture
"Is there an inclusive and compassionate culture that values diversity, supports staff wellbeing and speaking up, and tackles workforce inequalities?"
- Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
- Workplace discrimination and equitable treatment of staff
- Speaking up culture
- Whistleblowing
- Support and wellbeing of workforce
Workforce demographic analytics; an anonymous speaking-up and whistleblowing channel with case management.
KLOE 3Capable and compassionate leaders
"Do leaders at all levels have the capability and experience to lead effectively and deliver high-quality care, with accountability, integrity and empathy?"
- Leadership competency, support and development
- Safe recruitment of leaders / Fit and Proper Person Requirement
- Compassionate and capable leaders
- Role expectations and personal accountability
A leadership-recruitment and FPPR evidence pack; supervision and development records for leaders.
KLOE 4Governance and management
"Are there clear roles, responsibilities and systems of accountability to support good governance and manage risks, performance and issues?"
- Roles, responsibilities and accountability
- Governance, quality assurance and management
- Service risk management
- Cyber security and the DSPT
- Data protection and GDPR
- Statutory and regulatory requirements
- Workforce planning
- Records / digital records
- Emergency preparedness and business continuity
The most software-relevant KLOE in the framework — the immutable audit trail, automatic DSPT evidence, role-based access logs, Regulation 18 notification tracking and workforce planning all live here.
KLOE 5Partnerships and communities
"Is the service working effectively and collaboratively with people who use the service and partners to support care provision and service development?"
- Sharing good practice and learning
- Partnership working and collaboration
- Involvement and coproduction
The family portal and feedback loops as coproduction evidence; records shared with partners.
KLOE 6Improvement, innovation and learning
"Does the service enable and embed continuous improvement, innovation and learning, using evidence and lived experience?"
- Innovation
- Learning and improvement
- Research
The incident-learning loop and improvement trail; anonymised data and opt-in research participation.
You've read what the inspector will ask. Now see the answers assembled.
The 2026 CQC Readiness Guide packages all 24 KLOEs and a readiness checklist into one document — or book a short demo and we'll walk through your KLOE evidence map directly.