Bexley Council's Adult Social Care services have been assessed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), with a recent report highlighting both strengths and areas needing improvement. The assessment, part of the CQC's formal review of local authorities' adult social care responsibilities under the Care Act 2014, aims to evaluate the quality of care and support provided to residents. If the Council is assessed as not meeting its statutory duties under the Care Act 2014 and receives an inadequate rating by CQC, it may be subject to intervention by the Secretary of State.
The CQC gathers evidence from national data collections, regulation of providers, the information return (including specific policies and strategies, internal and external survey results, feedback from staff, and the self-assessment), case tracking, focus groups, and conversations with staff and leaders.
The Adult Social Care & Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee received an update on the CQC Assurance Programme on Tuesday 01 July 2025, which included a summary of Bexley Adult Social Care's self-assessment submitted to the CQC on 2 May 2025. The self-assessment was structured around four key themes from the CQC Assessment Framework:
- Working with people
- Supporting people
- Ensuring safety
- Leadership and governance
Strengths Identified
Under the theme of Working with people
, the report identifies strengths such as Delivering improved outcomes for people through strong partnerships
and Bexley has a culture of learning that enables us to retain a highly skilled workforce
.
In the area of Supporting people
, the report highlighted Strong partnerships both locally and in the South East London Integrated Care System, which deliver joined up and responsive services
. The report also noted that The Integrated Commissioning service and the Quality Assurance Team are dedicated to improving the quality of service provision in Bexley. Its proactive and supportive work with providers enables rapid service improvements.
Regarding Ensuring Safety
, the report cited An effective Bexley Safeguarding Adults Board (BSAB) with strong partnership leadership and engagement
and A dedicated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Team, which completes DoLS assessments at a level that benchmarks well with our peers.
Finally, in Leadership and Governance
, the report stated that A stable Senior Leadership Team and strong engagement with and from elected members
was a strength, as well as A strong and coordinated system approach is evident at all levels of the organisation.
Areas for Improvement
Despite these strengths, the CQC assessment also pointed out areas where Bexley Adult Social Care could improve. These include:
- Building on strength-based practice
- Implementing a digital offer for online self-assessment and financial assessments. The council is focusing on the implementation of a digital offer for online self-assessment and financial assessments as part of their Digital Strategy, which has already delivered the Your Life, Your Choice Care Finder App and a revamped website. The specific timeline for this implementation is not provided.
CQC Assessment Process
The report also noted that Bexley Adult Social Care received a formal notification of assessment from CQC on 7 April 2025. The notification triggers a process with three key elements: information gathering, speaking with people and voluntary groups, and a site visit.
Care at Home Transformation
The Committee also received an update on the Care at Home Transformation, following an external review undertaken for Adult Social Care (ASC). The transformation programme aims to improve the quality and responsiveness of care at home support, ensuring a more personalised service. The report pack states that in April 2022, ASC commissioned a place based and outcomes focused care at home model in each of the Local Care Network geographical areas.
The new 'place based and outcomes focused care at home model' aims to improve personalisation, quality, sustainability and responsiveness by reducing the number of providers and concentrating around the geographical footprint of Local Care Networks (LCN's). The previous care at home model was fragmented, due to the number of providers working across the borough (over 42 agencies). This new model was considered more robust for collaborative and strategic partnerships and to ensure that contract and quality assurance monitoring mechanisms would have the capacity to work more closely with our residents receiving care.
The Care at Home Trusted Partner contracts have two elements, one the delivery of care, the other the ability to review and assess people already known to them. The Trusted Assessors element of the contract delegates the Local Authority Care Act activities to the Partner organisations for non-complex care and support needs within their designated LCN (for all people receiving Care at Home, not just those who are receiving care from the contracted partner). This element along with the care delivery is subject to continued Quality Assurance processes to ensure it is working and provides the responsiveness required.
Two trusted assessors from each of the LCN Care at Home and Reablement partners are undertaking a training programme to enhance their skills and develop the partners in supporting residents further with detailed reviews and assessments. The main purpose of delegating Care Act activities to the Trusted Partners continues to be to achieve desired outcomes which provide positive benefits for Bexley residents. Based on the work to date we have seen that the Trusted Assessors, who know the individuals best, continue to apply creative ways of working to achieve the outcomes identified with them, which has led to changes in how care is delivered.
For example, in the North LCN, Eleanor is the partner, holding 95% of the contract and acting as a Trusted Partner. In the Clocktower LCN, Bluebird holds 95% of the contract and is also an active Trusted Partner.