Improvement plans: your questions answered
Get answers to frequently asked questions about
improvement plans.
Why can you tell me to send an improvement plan?
The legal framework has changed.
The Care Standards Act 2000 (Establishments and
Agencies) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations
2006 came into force on 1 July 2006.
This allows us to require registered persons to
provide an improvement plan – and makes it an
offence if they do not.
This is a major change in the law as previously
we could only request that you tell us how you were meeting
requirements and recommendations.
If you are a children’s service this change in
the law does not apply as it was only for adult
services. However we can still require you to provide an
improvement plan under our general power in section 31(1) of the
Care Standards Act 2000.
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When will I have to provide an improvement plan?
We will always ask for an improvement plan when:
- your service fails to do what the law says you must do to meet
the needs of people using the service
- if your service is given a quality rating of poor, following a
key inspection.
We may ask you for an improvement plan if:
- your service is given a quality rating of
adequate and when we have
concerns about your ability to improve outcomes
for the people using the service.
We will not ask for an improvement plan if:
- your service is given a quality rating of either
good or excellent following a key
inspection.
Whenever we do ask you for an improvement plan our request will
have been agreed by one of our managers.
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What's happened to the action plans?
We do not use action plans anymore.
We expect services that are good, excellent and adequate (unless
we assess that we do need to ask an adequate service for an
improvement plan) to:
- be able to manage their own improvement
- take the necessary action to meet requirements and
recommendations without sending us an improvement plan.
However, we can always ask you to send us a written response to
any requirements we have made - this will not be called an
improvement plan.
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What format should my improvement plan be in?
We have designed a template for you to use and
will send you this if we ask you for an improvement plan.
You do not have to use our template - you can use any format you
like, as long as it answers the questions we ask
in our template.
You will not be judged on the format of the improvement plan –
only on its content.
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What should I include in the improvement plan?
You should include:
- what actions you are going to take to improve your service and
to meet all of the requirements that we have made
- what you are going to do to make sure that these actions are
successful
- the date that the actions will be completed by (this must not
differ from any timescales we have set for requirements)
- the name of the person responsible for the particular
action.
- the name of the person who has the overall responsibility for
co-ordinating your improvement plan (the person who will make
sure required action is taken and keep us informed)
- the date that you sent the improvement plan to us.
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How long have I got to complete the plan?
You must return the completed improvement plan within one month
of the date of our request.
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What happens next?
We will look at your improvement plan and assess:
- how you plan to meet the requirements we have
made.
- your timescales for each action and whether
they are reasonable and realistic.
- how you plan to improve your service.
- whether you can achieve and maintain your
proposed improvements.
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How will you monitor my progress?
We will:
- hold an internal management review
meeting for your service where we will assess your
improvement plan
- agree how we will monitor your progress in doing what you have
said you will do, which might include random
inspections to check what you are doing.
- expect you to complete any actions within the timescales and
keep us informed about your progress.
Read more about management review
meetings.
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What happens if my improvement plan is late, or is not good
enough?
If your first improvement plan is not clear, or the timescale is
not acceptable to us, we may ask you to provide
more detail or improve your timescales.
If you don’t send us an improvement plan when we ask you to, you
will be breaking the law.
It is an offence not to comply and we may
consider taking enforcement action against you.
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What will happen if I don’t do what I have told you I will in
my improvement plan?
- Your service’s quality rating will remain poor
and you will have a robust inspection programme
that will seek compliance
- If you fail to meet requirements in your
improvement plan we will move on from encouraging and supporting
your improvement
- We will take enforcement action to make sure
that your service meets the needs of the people that you
support
- We will hold internal management reviews to
consider the action we may take.
The action we take could be to:
- request a meeting with you to discuss progress
being made and how you can improve your service
- send you a warning letter to let you know that
you are being considered for statutory enforcement action if you do
not make improvements within agreed timescales.
Note: enforcement action could ultimately lead
to prosecution or to the
cancellation of your registration.
Find out more
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What will happen when I have made all the improvements?
We will:
- make sure that it is properly recorded
- not take any enforcement action
- amend your quality rating at your next key inspection
(depending on the outcomes of your improvements).
If you become a good service (or in the
majority of cases even an ‘adequate’ service):
- you will not need to send us another improvement plan
- you will receive a lighter touch from us.
But, if you are still seen to be a poor
service after this key inspection we may request another
improvement plan.
Our management review processes will be more
vigorous and we will consider taking enforcement
action to make sure improvement will be considered.
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Who will you share my improvement plan with?
We may share any relevant information about your improvement
plans with local councils and service
commissioners, where appropriate as part of our
improvement strategy.
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