City of York Council has reaffirmed its commitment to delivering the best possible adult social care services following its first ever assessment by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The CQC assessed how York delivers its responsibilities under The Care Act (2014) in June 2025. It looked at 9 areas of adult social care to see how the council and partners support residents.
The report that has been published today (5 December 2025) recognises that the council knows and is addressing its weaknesses. Because evidence of some shortfalls was found, the CQC has rated the council’s delivery of its Care Act responsibilities as ‘requires improvement’.
See the City of York Council: local authority assessment.
The report highlighted some areas of strength including:
- strong leadership
- a dedicated, kind and considerate workforce
- partnership working with health, housing and the voluntary sector
The weaker areas identified included:
- the need to reduce waiting times for assessments and improve processes
- more to do to strengthen co-production and engagement
- to continue to improve information sharing and partnership working around managing safeguarding and risk
Cllr Lucy Steels-Walshaw, Executive Member for Adult Social Care at City of York Council, said:
We welcome this report which reflects our understanding of our services and our journey to improve and fulfil our ambition to deliver the best for all residents. The people of York need and deserve firm foundations to all services, and we are intent on improving our services while keeping residents and their needs at the heart of all that we do.
“The report recognises our strengths including our commitment to core values as a Human Rights city, the social model of disability and our approach to inclusion and equality. The hard work of our teams was praised by residents’ feedback who described staff as ‘helpful, kind and considerate’. I look forward to welcoming the inspectors back to see the improvements we believe we are already making.”
Cllr Claire Douglas, Leader of City of York Council, said:
My administration has an absolute commitment to providing the best adult social care services to the residents of this city. Where weaknesses are identified, we take them very seriously and will make it the council’s priority to address them, ensuring standards are what they should be. Our action plan will respond to these points and ensure residents’ voices are heard in how we develop and deliver our services. That process is already underway and I look forward to seeing swift progress made in this core service area for the council”.
Sara Storey, Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Integration at City of York Council, said:
We know well that we have a lot to do - and we are really motivated here in York to do better. Our ambition is not just because of an assessment’s outcome, but because we want to improve how we support residents.
“The CQC tells us they can see we are underway with, or have plans in place, for improvements across adult social care, and that these plans are already making positive change.
“These plans include reducing waiting lists, developing our preventive front door model, developing a new model for supporting people with learning disabilities and autism, and continuing to improve our direct payments offer.
“We have implemented a robust risk management and triaging system to ensure that if people do have to wait for assessments, urgent need can be prioritised to ensure that people are safe.
“Our plans need to be applied consistently as we recognise and learn from some residents’ less than positive experiences. These necessary changes will support us and our city partners to deliver the very best for residents.
“Thank you to all our residents, partners, providers and staff who took part in the CQC assessment and who are working with us to help us further improve. It takes a whole system and a whole city approach to help people to live good lives.”
Jane Timson, Chair of City of York’s Safeguarding Adults Partnership, said:
We take the findings of this assessment very seriously, as people in the City of York deserve timely and high quality care and support.
“The assessment highlighted concerns about our systems and the processes we have to manage safeguarding. We want to reassure people that we have already started making changes to ensure this happens across our adult safeguarding partnership, including more robust triage and risk reduction processes.”
Chris Badger, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said:
"At this inspection, we found City of York Council requires improvement in how it's delivering adult social care for people living in the area. While we saw some committed staff who wanted to do their best for people, there were significant shortfalls in areas that need immediate attention.
“Leaders recognised the challenges they face and were engaging with staff and people using services to gain feedback, to help make improvements so people living in York have better access to adult social care services.
"City of York Council must now act on the concerns we've raised to ensure people receive safe, effective care that meets their needs. We look forward to seeing how their future plans mature."
An improvement plan is being developed at pace and will be supported by an independent improvement partner. An improvement board is being created and the council will be working with the Department of Health and Social Care to report on progress around the improvements.
Besides improving services, the council is also working to develop and embed co-production with residents and partners. This is to ensure it actively listens to, promotes and supports learning that improves people's social care experiences and outcomes.
See more information about adult social care in York.