Inspectors report “mixed but improving picture” for adult services

Inspectors have reported a “mixed but improving picture” for Tameside Adult Services following a recent assurance visit.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an assurance visit in November 2025 and has rated the service as ‘Requires Improvement’.

This is the first time Tameside Council has been inspected by the CQC. Under the Health and Care Act 2022, the CQC was given a statutory duty to assess local authorities’ delivery of their adult social care.

The outcome closely borders a ‘Good’ rating and, following the release of the report, an improvement plan will be submitted and monitored regularly. Support is also to be provided by the Local Government Association (LGA) and progress will be checked regularly by the CQC.

In the report, published on Friday 5 June, the inspectors said, “Tameside’s adult social care system showed a mixed but improving picture, with data indicating rising demand and increasing complexity driven by a growing older population, higher levels of deprivation, poorer health outcomes, and more working‑age adults with disabilities.’’

They highlighted numerous strengths, including the service achieving equity in experience and outcomes for the people they support. The report also highlighted the service’s ability to embrace learning, improvement and innovation, saying staff in the service showed “a strong learning culture” and describing them as “demonstrating a clear passion for helping people lead fulfilling and independent lives”.

The inspectors also acknowledged how a “stable leadership team, strengthened structures and active political oversight” were having an impact on governance and accountability.

They also gave positive recognition to the following:

• Prevention activity, which they said is supporting people to remain independent, with evidence of positive impact.
• The launch of the Early Support and Advice Hub (ESAH) in February 2025, a team offering tailored guidance for people who need support, which they noted had helped to reduce waiting times and increase the number of people being successfully signposted to support in their community.
• The establishment of a Review Team, which they said had shortened waiting times for assessment  
• The creation of a Tameside Community Offer Tool, linking people with the right support in their communities.
• Tameside Carers Centre, noting that carers felt “comfortable and relaxed” and referred to the team at the centre as “experienced and helpful”.
• People involved in autism-related work felt their contributions were valued and had influenced strategies and services.  

However, the report also highlighted capacity pressures and areas of inconsistency, where further improvement is needed including:

• Continued strengthening of partnerships and recording of decisions with providers, health and communities.
• Improvement of measuring outcomes of initiatives and strategies to assure progress.
• Further strengthening of processes for overdue care reviews.
• Monitoring people who have re-entered adult social care.
• Increasing timeliness of advocacy support.
• A review of respite provisions for carers and other respite provision for older people and those with learning disabilities. 

Tameside Council’s Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Councillor Jackie Lane, said: “Following my role as Assistant Executive Member for Adult Services, I’m looking forward to representing the service in my new role as Executive Member, continuing to work closely with colleagues, partners and the people we support.

‘’We welcome the assessment’s findings – both the positive recognition and the areas where further improvement is needed. It reaffirms what we already know about our strengths and areas for further learning, and I’m pleased to say we’re already putting strategies in place to address these and beginning to see positive outcomes.

“It’s especially pleasing to see the inspectors recognise our staff’s clear passion for helping people lead fulfilling and independent lives. The report also acknowledges the impact of our stable leadership team, strengthened structures and active political oversight in effective governance and accountability in the service.

‘’While we know there is more work to do, we have strong foundations and frameworks to build on, and we feel positive about our improvement journey and clear about our next steps. Thank you to our staff and partners for your continued dedication to providing compassionate and high-quality support to residents. “

Tameside Council Strategic Director of Adult Services and Health Joe Kelly said: “The inspectors recognise we’re offering good strength-based services in an increasingly challenging environment of increased demand and complexity. However, we accept there is some inconsistency of practice across areas, and we’re addressing this as a priority as part of our ongoing transformation plans.

‘’It is reassuring that our outcome borders a rating of ‘Good’, we know our strengths and I look forward to leading an innovative improvement plan which takes on board learning from the visit. During this process we will also have personalised support from the Local Government Association and regular checks on progress from the CQC.

‘’Keeping our residents safe is paramount, we recognise feedback on safeguarding from our assurance visit and are reviewing our processes. Although our guidance adheres to that set out by Tameside Adult Safeguarding Partnership Board, we have revised our local approach to safeguarding to ensure improved delivery and consistency.

“I’m committed to looking at how we can continue to work closely with the people we support, colleagues and partners to shape and further improve services and I thank everyone for their ongoing commitment to this.

‘’Since the assessment, we’ve continued to work with partnership boards including the Autism Board, Learning Disability Board and the Carers Forum as opportunities for experiences to be heard.  We’re committed to providing person-centred and community led approaches.

“We’re also continuing to work closely with all services across the council to establish what living well looks like for Tameside. This is part of the wider Greater Manchester Live Well vision but tailored to Tameside.

‘’Thank you to our staff and partners for your continued dedication to providing compassionate and high-quality support to residents’’