In January 2026, the Care Quality Commission published 181 care home inspection reports. The outcomes were as follows: Outstanding: 7 Good: 87 Requires Improvement: 72 Inadequate: 15 At the headline level, the distribution is familiar. Most services sit within the middle ground, with a relatively small proportion at either end of the ratings spectrum. What…
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Fabio Cecchi, Commercial Director at Fulcrum Care, outlines how providers can give themselves the best possible chance of successfully challenging a CQC report. A CQC inspection report can have lasting implications for a service. Beyond public ratings, reports shape regulatory history, influence commissioning confidence and inform future inspection and enforcement activity. From working with providers…
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The Government has published its adult social care priorities for local authorities for 2026–27, alongside a detailed set of priority outcomes and expectations. These documents set out how councils are expected to plan, commission and deliver adult social care over the coming year. Although addressed primarily to local authorities, the priorities will directly influence commissioning…
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Inspection Readiness as Business as Usual Most services do not struggle with CQC inspections because they lack policies, procedures or awareness of regulatory expectations. They struggle because compliance activity sits alongside everyday operations rather than being fully embedded within them. As a result, inspection readiness becomes something that intensifies periodically, rather than a constant feature…
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Why Leadership Continuity Matters in Regulated Care Services Leadership change is one of the most common pressure points in regulated care services, and one of the most underestimated. When leadership transitions are not well supported, standards can drift quickly, even in services that have previously performed well. In practice, the underlying issue is rarely the…
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Hidden Liabilities in Care Services: What Investors Often Miss Some of the most significant risks in care services don’t announce themselves early. On the surface, a service may appear stable, occupied, staffed and meeting basic compliance requirements, yet still carry liabilities that only emerge when pressure increases. In practice, these risks are rarely random; they…
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What a Care Pre-Acquisition Compliance Audit Should Actually Cover Anyone who has been involved in a care acquisition knows that the biggest risks rarely sit in the financials alone. Regulatory and operational issues are often what cause the most disruption after completion, particularly where they haven’t been fully understood upfront. A pre-acquisition compliance audit should…
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Our Fabio Cecchi, considers CQC’s recent update on its progress during 2025 and explains why improvements in regulation do not reduce the need for strong governance within services. Over the past year, many providers have questioned whether the regulatory system was capable of keeping pace with the pressures facing health and social care. CQC’s latest…
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Our Commercial Director, Fabio Cecchi, sets out our response to CQC’s recent update on its improvement plans and explains what we believe providers should do now. On 27 November, CQC published an update on its ‘improvement plans for 2026’. The update sets out how CQC plans to rebuild confidence in regulation and tackle some of…
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On 26 November 2025, we joined leading turnaround, restructuring and insolvency professionals at the Hilton London Bankside for the 18th TRI Awards – the UK’s leading awards programme for the sector. Despite a strong field, we’re delighted to share that Fulcrum Care was recognised as “Highly Commended” in the Turnaround Firm of the Year category…
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