The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Isle of Wight Council as requires improvement, in how well they are meeting their responsibilities to ensure people have access to adult social care and support under the Care Act (2014).
[The marks given were just 1% below being rated as Good. Read the Isle of Wight Council response. Ed]
What the rating means
CQC has a new duty under the Act to assess how local authorities work with their communities and partners to meet their responsibilities. This includes promoting the wellbeing and independence of working age disabled adults, older people, and their unpaid carers to reduce their need for formal support where appropriate. Where support is needed it should provide people with choice and control of how their care needs are met.
CQC looked at nine areas spread across four themes to assess how well the authority is meeting their responsibilities in order to create their requires improvement rating. CQC has given each of these nine areas a score out of four with one being the evidence shows significant shortfalls, and four showing an exceptional standard.
Theme Area Score How the local authority works with people 1. assessing people’s needs 2 2. supporting people to lead healthier lives 2 3. equity in experience and outcomes 2 Providing support 4. care provision, integration and continuity of care 2 5. partnership and communities 3 How the local authority ensures safety in the system 6. safe pathways, systems and transitions 3 7. safeguarding 3 Leadership 8. governance, management and sustainability 2 9. learning, improvement and innovation 3
In the inspector’s own words
Chris Badger, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care and Integrated Care, said,
“Isle of Wight Council serves a significantly ageing population within a coastal and rural authority context, bringing additional challenges linked to geographic isolation, transport connectivity, workforce recruitment, and access to services across dispersed communities. Nearly 30% of residents are aged over 65, well above the national average of 18%, and this is projected to rise to almost 35% by 2030, placing increasing pressure on adult social care services.
“Despite the challenges they face, they do have clear strengths to build on. Safeguarding arrangements were a notable positive as specialist teams handled referrals consistently, completed enquiries promptly, and people reported feeling supported and safe.
“The authority’s partnership working was also effective, as it aligned priorities with partners, pooling resources and jointly funding services that are making a meaningful difference to people’s lives.
“However, we identified areas where people are not receiving support in a timely way. Some individuals reported reaching crisis point before accessing help, while delays in finalising care plans left others uncertain about how their needs would be met. In one case, an unpaid carer waited six weeks for a decision on support for a relative.
“We also found that the authority’s support with hospital discharges didn’t always serve people well. A risk-averse approach resulted in too many people being placed in residential care when they could have returned home with appropriate support. In some cases, assessments underestimated people’s ability to live independently.
“There’s also more to do to ensure everyone gets a fair experience of adult social care. The authority knew its island population well but wasn’t consistently monitoring who was accessing services to make sure no one was being left behind.
“The authority has a stable, experienced leadership team and a clear commitment to learning and improvement. We want to see that energy directed at the areas where people are still falling through the gaps.”
Where people are falling through the gaps
The assessment team found:
- Leaders didn’t consistently analyse whether people with different needs such as people from LGBTQ+ communities or different ethnicities were getting equitable access to adult social care.
- Isle of Wight created a two-tier fee system by giving subcontracted care providers lower fee uplifts than those it commissioned directly, increasing inequality and risking provider sustainability.
- The authority failed to maintain accurate data systems, preventing leaders from effectively monitoring waiting times for Care Act assessments and limiting proper governance and oversight.
- The authority did not provide consistent support for unpaid carers; it failed to ensure timely assessments, did not adequately focus on carers’ own needs, and neglected to carry out regular reviews, leaving some carers without reassessment for up to four years.
- Leaders did not effectively manage occupational therapy services after bringing them back in-house, allowing long waiting times to persist and failing to reduce the backlog for equipment and home adaptations.
Areas of genuine strength
However:
- The senior leadership team demonstrated strong, visible and supportive leadership, remaining experienced, compassionate and accessible to staff, who felt confident raising concerns directly with them. They drove a positive organisational culture by promoting openness and trust across services.
- The authority encouraged continuous improvement by auditing around 30 cases each month to maintain regular oversight of practice and performance, and leaders embedded learning into practice by using structured forums, such as “Making a Difference” and “So What”, to turn audit findings into clear, evidence-based actions.
- Staff supported unpaid carers, despite delays in some cases, by enabling 20% of some people to access short-notice or emergency breaks from caring, better than the England average of 12%. This demonstrated effective provision and responsive support for carers’ needs.
The assessment will be published on CQC’s website on Wednesday 3rd June 2026.
