CQC key lines of enquiry (KLOE): what's changing in 2026

CQC key lines of enquiry (KLOEs) are the structured questions CQC inspectors use to judge whether a home care service is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. CQC retired them in 2024 when it introduced the Single Assessment Framework (SAF), replacing KLOEs with 34 quality statements that applied across all care settings. Now they are coming back. In March 2026, CQC published a draft adult social care assessment framework that proposes replacing those 34 quality statements with 24 KLOEs. The public consultation closed on 12 June 2026, and CQC has indicated implementation towards the end of 2026. Until then, your agency is still inspected under the SAF.

For a full overview of the current framework that remains in force, see our CQC compliance guide for home care.

‍

What are the CQC key lines of enquiry?

CQC key lines of enquiry are the structured inspection questions that sit beneath each of CQC's five key questions. The five key questions ask whether a service is safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led. KLOEs break each question down further, setting out the specific areas an inspector examines and the evidence they expect to find when forming a judgement.

Before 2024, KLOEs underpinned CQC inspections for all adult social care providers, including domiciliary care. For a home care agency, KLOEs typically covered areas such as medicines management, safeguarding, the recruitment and support of care workers, person-centred care planning, and leadership governance. Each KLOE was accompanied by rating characteristics: written descriptions of what outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate each looked like in practice.

That descriptive approach gave registered managers a concrete benchmark. If your service was rated good for safe care, the rating characteristics told you exactly what an outstanding service looked like in that area, and what kind of evidence might help you reach it. That specificity is part of why KLOEs were valued, and why many in the sector found them easier to apply than the quality statements that replaced them.

‍

What does KLOE stand for?

KLOE stands for Key Line of Enquiry. Each KLOE is a specific focus area that guides an inspector through one of the five key questions. Rather than asking "is this service safe?" in the abstract, inspectors follow defined KLOEs that direct them towards the evidence, practices and outcomes that matter in a home care setting.

The plural, KLOEs (or CQC KLOEs), refers to the full set of inspection questions across all five key question areas. You may also see them called "lines of enquiry" in older CQC guidance and inspection reports.

‍

A quick history: KLOEs, then the SAF, now KLOEs again

The consolidated set of KLOEs that most registered managers remember dates from 2017, part of CQC's move towards more consistent, structured inspections across adult social care. Alongside prompt questions and rating characteristics, they became the standard reference point for registered managers preparing for inspection. Providers built quality systems around them, and most found them workable.

CQC began rolling out the Single Assessment Framework in late 2023, and it came into effect for most domiciliary care providers during 2024. The SAF replaced sector-specific KLOEs with 34 quality statements intended to apply consistently across all care settings, accompanied by a numerical scoring system. Our guide to the single assessment framework covers how that framework operates and remains the framework in force for inspections today.

Feedback from the sector was substantial. Many providers found the 34 quality statements harder to apply than the old KLOEs: the statements frequently overlapped, the numerical scoring was a source of confusion, and the universal approach made it harder to connect inspection evidence to the specific realities of domiciliary care. CQC's own "Better regulation, better care" consultation, which ran in late 2025, showed strong support for returning to sector-specific frameworks. That response led directly to the 2026 draft.

‍

What's in the 2026 draft framework

The draft adult social care assessment framework, published for consultation in March 2026, proposes replacing the 34 quality statements with 24 KLOEs. The five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led) remain unchanged, as does the four-point rating scale: outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.

The 24 draft KLOEs are distributed across the five key questions, with several KLOEs beneath each. The themes will be familiar to any manager who worked under the original framework: safe care and treatment, safeguarding, staffing and recruitment, medicines management, person-centred care, consent, dignity and respect, responsiveness to concerns, governance, and leadership. The framework is designed specifically for adult social care, making it more directly applicable to home care settings than the universal quality statements it replaces.

Rating characteristics return. Each KLOE in the draft is accompanied by descriptive characteristics for each rating level, replacing the numerical scoring system that is proposed to be removed. In practice, this means inspectors and providers will again be working from written descriptions of what good and outstanding look like in a specific area, rather than aggregating scores.

For the full content of the draft, read it directly from CQC's consultation page. CQC's documents are the authoritative source, and the wording may change between the consultation draft and final publication.

This is a draft framework. Nothing in it is confirmed. This page accurately reports what CQC has consulted on; it is not a confirmed account of how inspections will work once the final framework is adopted. The CQC fundamental standards that underpin all inspections are unchanged by this process.

‍

What happens next, and when

The public consultation on the draft frameworks closed on 12 June 2026. CQC has indicated that pilots are planned for summer 2026, with final frameworks expected to be published over the summer and implementation towards the end of 2026. These are CQC's stated intentions at the time of writing; they are not guaranteed dates, and the schedule may change.

Until the new framework takes formal effect, CQC continues to inspect home care agencies under the Single Assessment Framework. Any rating your agency receives before the transition date will be assessed against the SAF. There is no ambiguity here: the SAF is the live framework.

For updates on timing as CQC publishes them, monitor the CQC consultation and framework announcements page directly.

‍

What home care agencies should do now

The honest position at this point is: not much has to change yet. Here is a practical approach for registered managers working through the transition.

Keep working to the current SAF. The SAF is what inspectors use today. Your quality evidence, self-assessment and governance processes should continue to be built around it. Do not let the expectation of change create gaps in your current compliance activity.

Read the draft framework. The draft adult social care assessment framework is publicly available from CQC. Reading it costs an afternoon and will tell you whether the incoming KLOEs cover familiar ground. For most experienced registered managers, they will.

Start mapping your existing evidence. If your records already document safe visit delivery, person-centred care planning, medicines management, care worker supervision and leadership oversight, that evidence will be relevant under the new framework. The themes are consistent with what CQC has always valued. You do not need to wait for the final wording to begin connecting your existing records to the KLOE themes.

Do not rebuild your quality systems around a draft. The wording of individual KLOEs may change between consultation and final publication. Invest in evidence and good practice, not in restructuring processes around wording that could shift.

‍

‍

What remains constant through any framework change is the value of accurate, accessible digital records. When an inspector arrives, the evidence they need to see, including visit records, medication logs, care plan updates, concerns raised and resolved, and supervision records for care workers, needs to be findable quickly. Whether the framework uses quality statements or KLOEs, a well-maintained digital audit trail is the same asset. Birdie's care quality features are designed to keep that evidence organised and accessible at any point in the inspection cycle, not just in the days before a visit. (⚠️ verify /care-quality is the correct live URL for this page in Webflow)

‍

Frequently asked questions

What are the 5 KLOEs in CQC?

KLOEs are not a set of five. The five are CQC's key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. KLOEs sit beneath them as the specific lines of enquiry within each question. The 2026 draft adult social care framework proposes 24 KLOEs in total, distributed across those five key questions.

Are CQC still using KLOEs?

Not at present. Home care agencies are currently inspected under the Single Assessment Framework, which uses 34 quality statements rather than KLOEs. CQC has consulted on a draft framework that would reintroduce KLOEs, but until that framework is formally adopted, the SAF is the live approach.

What does KLOE mean in CQC?

KLOE stands for Key Line of Enquiry. In a CQC inspection, a KLOE is a focused question that directs an inspector towards specific evidence within one of the five key questions. They are the structured enquiry areas through which inspectors gather evidence and form ratings.

Do KLOEs still exist?

Not in current inspections, which operate under the Single Assessment Framework. CQC's 2026 draft adult social care assessment framework proposes bringing them back in revised form, with 24 KLOEs replacing the current 34 quality statements. That framework remains a draft pending final publication and implementation.

‍

What is replacing the single assessment framework?

CQC has consulted on replacing the SAF with four sector-specific assessment frameworks. The draft for adult social care proposes 24 KLOEs, descriptive rating characteristics, and the removal of numerical scoring. Pilots are planned for summer 2026, with implementation expected towards the end of 2026. The SAF remains in force until the transition is formally made.

KLOEs are not new to most registered managers, and the direction of travel in 2026 points towards a framework that will feel more familiar than the SAF. But the transition is not yet complete, and the timing remains in CQC's hands. The practical position for any home care agency right now is to stay current on the SAF, monitor CQC's published timelines for the final framework date, and keep your digital records in the shape that lets you evidence your practice clearly, whatever framework applies when an inspector next visits.

‍

‍

To see how Birdie supports inspection-ready record keeping through any regulatory change, visit our care quality page.

‍

‍