What are the 4 CQC ratings?
The Care Quality Commission (CQC), England's health and adult social care regulator, publishes four inspection ratings for registered services: Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement and Inadequate, running from the best judgement down to the worst. Each rating is the regulator's verdict on a service at the time of one inspection visit.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates health and adult social care in England, and it inspects registered services such as care homes, nursing homes and home care agencies. NHS guidance on care homes lists the four CQC inspection ratings as Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement and Inadequate. After an inspection, the CQC publishes a rating that acts as its verdict on that service at the time of the visit, and that rating sits on the public record until the next inspection.
[1]One thing to watch when reading ratings anywhere other than the CQC's own record: comparison sites sometimes relabel the four bands into plain-language equivalents such as excellent, good, needs improvement and poor so that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can be compared side by side. CareFacts, for example, keeps each regulator's own wording and adds a coarse four-point band for cross-border comparison. Those relabelled bands are a convenience for comparison, not the regulator's own verdict, so always read the CQC's original wording for any service you are seriously considering.
[3]What a rating does and does not tell you
A rating is a snapshot of one inspection visit. Services can change hands, change manager, or change entirely between inspections, and a published rating can sit on the register for years after the conditions that produced it have gone. CareFacts notes that thousands of services carry a published rating from a visit more than six years ago, which is why every page on that site shows the age of the inspection next to the rating. Treat an old rating as a starting question, not an answer.
[3]A worked example
Suppose, as a purely hypothetical example, you are comparing two care homes in England for a relative. Home A carries a Good rating from a visit three years ago under its previous operator; Home B was inspected eight months ago under the current management. Even if Home A's band looks stronger on paper, the recent inspection under existing management is the more reliable signal, because the older verdict may describe an organisation that no longer runs the home. NHS guidance also stresses that individual suitability should follow a needs assessment, not a rating alone.
[1]If, after reading the reports, you have concerns about care you have experienced or observed at either home, you have a right to complain to the organisation that provided or paid for the care, and all health and social care services must by law have a complaints procedure. If a council funds the care and its response is unsatisfactory, that council is the next contact, and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigates adult social care complaints for self-funded and council-funded care. You can also tell the CQC about poor care: it cannot take your complaint forward for you, but the information helps protect others.
[1][2]A checklist before relying on any rating
- Confirm the rating's exact wording on the CQC's own record for that service, not a third-party paraphrase.
- Check the inspection date shown next to the rating and ask the home what has changed since.
- Establish whether the operator or manager named in the report still runs the service.
- Read the report's findings behind the rating, not just the headline band.
- Base any decision on a needs assessment of the person, not the rating alone.
- If you see or experience poor care, complain to the provider or funder first, and also report it to the CQC so the information is on record.
- If you suspect a service is operating without CQC registration, report it as an unregistered provider.
As a practical next step, look up the service on the CQC's record, note the rating and its inspection date, and then ask the home directly what has changed since that visit before you weigh the verdict into any decision.
[3]Sources and dates
- https://www.nhs.uk/social-care-and-support/care-services-equipment-and-care-homes/care-homes/ · accessed 2026-10-18
- https://www.cqc.org.uk/contact-us/how-complain/complain-about-service-or-provider · accessed 2026-10-18
- https://carefacts.co.uk/ · accessed 2026-10-18