Adult Social Care Briefing

Published: 6 August 2026

A weekly briefing highlighting key developments affecting adult social care providers.

Each edition brings together developments that may influence governance, leadership, workforce and operational decision-making across adult social care. Factual information is drawn from official or authoritative sources, with commentary reflecting professional interpretation of the potential implications for providers.

This Week's Focus

Beyond Recruitment: What the Workforce Strategy Means for Adult Social Care Leaders

Two years after the launch of the Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England, Skills for Care reports that three quarters of the strategy's 56 recommendations and commitments are complete or in progress.

The strategy was developed collaboratively with the sector to provide a long-term direction for:

• attracting and retaining staff;

• developing skills and capability; and

• transforming how adult social care is delivered.

  
  

While national progress is encouraging, the key question for providers is whether that direction is translating into measurable improvements in workforce stability, capability and leadership within their own organisations.

What Has Changed?

Skills for Care's two-year progress update confirms:

• the strategy continues to focus on three priorities: attract and retain, train and develop, and transform;

• three quarters of the 56 recommendations and commitments are complete or in progress;

• the strategy is supporting workforce planning, influencing policy and strengthening collective action across the sector.

  
  

The update does not introduce new statutory requirements for providers.

It does, however, provide an opportunity for organisations to review whether their own workforce planning aligns with the longer-term direction of adult social care.

Why It Matters

Workforce remains one of the most significant strategic challenges facing adult social care providers.

Skills for Care's latest workforce intelligence reports that:

• vacancy rates have reduced to 6.1%, the lowest level for ten years; and

• the workforce has grown for the fourth consecutive year, with approximately 22,000 additional filled posts compared with the previous year.

  
  

While these trends are positive, workforce pressures remain significant.

Effective workforce oversight should include an understanding of:

• whether recruitment attracts people with the right values and behaviours;

• why staff leave and whether retention initiatives are effective;

• whether learning and development opportunities support career progression;

• how competence is assessed following training;

• whether managers receive appropriate leadership support;

• where future leadership, nursing and specialist workforce gaps may emerge; and

• whether workforce intelligence is informing organisational decision-making.

  
  

The Workforce Strategy also reflects the changing nature of adult social care, including greater emphasis on integrated working, prevention, technology, personalised care and digital capability.

For providers, the question is no longer whether a national workforce strategy exists. It is whether organisational workforce planning is keeping pace with it.

Actions for Providers

• Review whether the organisation has a genuine workforce strategy rather than simply a recruitment plan.

• Bring together information on vacancies, turnover, sickness, agency use, retention, exit interviews, competence and leadership capacity.

• Examine workforce risks at service and role level rather than relying solely on organisation-wide averages.

• Ensure competency assessment includes observation of practice and evidence that learning is applied safely and consistently.

• Review whether career pathways are visible to staff and reflected within supervision, appraisal and development planning.

• Consider future workforce requirements, including succession planning, leadership development, nursing capacity, specialist skills and digital capability.

  
  

Regulatory Watch

Current CQC Assessment Priorities

Although there have been no major new national regulatory announcements this week, CQC's current assessment priorities remain highly relevant for providers.

CQC continues to prioritise assessments for:

• services where there are urgent or emerging risks;

• services identified as very high risk that have not yet been assessed;

• services registered for more than one year that have not yet received an assessment; and

• services with ratings more than six years old.

  
  

CQC introduced a more proportionate assessment approach for eligible Good-rated adult social care services.

For eligible services, assessments place greater emphasis on:

• people's experiences and outcomes;

• observation of care; and

• targeted, risk-based review of records.

  
  

Why It Matters

A proportionate assessment is not a lower standard.

For leaders, it reinforces the importance of maintaining assurance continuously rather than relying on inspection preparation.

Effective governance should provide a reliable and consistent picture of:

• what people experience;

• where risks are emerging;

• whether staff are competent;

• whether improvement actions have been effective and sustained; and

• whether information from different sources tells a consistent story.

  
  

These expectations align closely with the principles of Regulation 17 (Good Governance), which requires providers to maintain effective systems to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of services.

Adult Social Care Negotiating Body

Recruitment remains open for the independent Chair of the new Adult Social Care Negotiating Body, which will support the introduction of Fair Pay Agreements for adult social care.

The Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed that the Negotiating Body will bring together employer and trade union representatives to negotiate pay, terms and conditions and wider employment matters. The Government has also committed funding to support implementation of the first Fair Pay Agreement.

Why It Matters

While this does not create immediate operational requirements, providers should begin considering how future nationally negotiated arrangements could influence:

• workforce costs;

• recruitment and retention;

• commissioning and fee negotiations;

• career progression; and

• long-term financial planning.

  
  

Leadership Reflection

National strategies and regulatory developments provide direction. Their value is determined by whether they improve what happens within organisations.

The Workforce Strategy may demonstrate national progress, but providers still need to determine whether staff experience stronger leadership, clearer development opportunities and better professional support.

Similarly, CQC's assessment approach reinforces the importance of governance that demonstrates the reality of care rather than simply evidencing completed activity.

Leaders should be able to answer one question with confidence:

How do we know people are receiving safe, effective and person-centred care today?

Inspection readiness should be the outcome of good governance, not the objective.

Five Things I'd Be Thinking About This Week

• Do we have a workforce strategy, or primarily a recruitment plan?

• Can we identify which services and roles carry the greatest workforce challenge?

• Does our workforce information lead to meaningful action?

• Would our day-to-day governance provide CQC with a credible picture of quality?

• Are we considering how future workforce reforms may affect our organisation over the coming years?

  
  

Sources

This briefing is based on information published by:

• Skills for Care – Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England.

• Skills for Care – Workforce Strategy recommendations and commitments.

• Skills for Care – The State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England (or the relevant monthly workforce statistics publication used for workforce figures).

• Care Quality Commission – Priorities for delivering more assessments and tackling aged ratings.

• Care Quality Commission – Assessment and evidence guidance for providers.

• Department of Health and Social Care – Care workers to be represented in Fair Pay Agreements.

• Department of Health and Social Care – Adult Social Care Negotiating Body public appointment information.

  
  

Editorial Note

This briefing covers significant developments and current sector issues reviewed up to 6 August 2026. The Workforce Strategy two-year progress update forms the principal focus of this edition. The CQC assessment priorities described in this briefing represent the current regulatory position and are included as contextual information rather than new regulatory requirements introduced during this reporting period.

The sections headed Why It Matters, Actions for Providers, Leadership Reflection and Five Things I'd Be Thinking About This Week represent the author's professional interpretation of the available evidence.

Every effort has been made to ensure factual accuracy at the time of publication. Professional commentary reflects the author's interpretation of published information and should not be regarded as legal or regulatory advice.

Looking Ahead

Future briefings will monitor:

• progress against the Workforce Strategy;

• emerging workforce intelligence;

• CQC assessment activity and regulatory developments;

• establishment of the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body;

• developments relating to Fair Pay Agreements;

• the forthcoming NMC consultation on the Code and revalidation; and

• wider policy, workforce and governance developments affecting adult social care.

If there is a regulatory update, guidance document or section issue you would like featured in a future edition of the Adult Social Care Briefing, I'd be pleased to hear from you.