CQC State of Care 2025/26: key findings

The headline: a market changing without a plan

CQC's main message is that adult social care is in flux. In its words, the market is changing "by accident rather than design". It links this to local authorities' varying ability to plan against a clear strategy and to a funding model it calls fragile.

Two trends are moving in opposite directions:

Care homes are consolidating. More of the available beds are in large care homes, and CQC reports a recent increase in institutional investors buying care homes. CQC says it will keep monitoring quality so that these trends do not affect personalisation or access to care.
Homecare is fragmenting. A growing number of small providers are entering the market.

CQC expects both trends to continue.

Self-funders and access to council-funded care

CQC says providers are increasingly seeking people who pay for their own care in order to stay viable. It warns this could reduce choice and capacity for people who rely on council-funded support, which already varies significantly by region.

For providers, this reflects a familiar tension: council fee levels that do not always cover costs, set against the risk of becoming dependent on a private market that is not available in every area.

Quality: mostly good, leadership the gap

Almost three-quarters of the adult social care sector is rated good or outstanding. CQC identifies leadership as the area most in need of improvement, and links well-led services with safer, more person-centred care.

Workforce: fewer vacancies, far fewer overseas recruits

CQC's workforce chapter draws on sector data to show that pressure has eased a little but the supply of staff from overseas has fallen sharply (see also our story on Skills for Care's 2026 workforce report):

the care home staff vacancy rate was 4.6% in 2025/26, down from 4.8%; homecare stayed at 9%;
care home staff turnover was just over 23%, down nearly 2 percentage points; homecare turnover fell from 21% to 19% between 2023/24 and 2025/26;
international recruitment fell from 105,000 in 2023/24 to 50,000 in 2024/25, then by a further 40% in 2025/26 to just over 30,000;
visa sponsor licence revocations notified to CQC rose from 313 in 2024/25 to 787 in 2025/26.

CQC also highlights training gaps. It reports that 56% of social care staff had partly or fully completed the Care Certificate, and that 54% of direct care staff had no relevant social care qualification in 2024/25. In one inspection example, staff described working over 95 hours in one week.

Mental health and the wider system

Beyond social care, the report finds that need in community mental health services is becoming more complex and that gaps in community provision are pushing more people towards crisis care. CQC chair Baroness Julia Neuberger linked gaps in community mental health provision to more people reaching crisis care.

The report also has a chapter on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. (See our separate story on the Supreme Court ruling and DoLS.)

What this means for your service

Expect CQC to focus on leadership. Make sure your governance, audits and action plans are current, and that your registered manager can explain how they know the service is safe.
Watch your local market. If council-funded placements or packages are thin in your area, talk to commissioners early about fees and capacity, rather than drifting towards a self-funder model by default.
Small homecare providers: CQC is watching fragmentation. Strong recruitment checks, supervision and record keeping will help you stand out at assessment.
Sponsors of overseas workers: revocations notified to CQC have more than doubled. Check your sponsor duties and right-to-work records.
Training: the Care Certificate and qualification gaps CQC describes are easy wins to tackle. Track completion and link training to supervision.
Working hours: review rotas for excessive hours and missed breaks, especially around sleep-ins.