Care Quality Commission results published for Adult Social Care in Salford

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has today published the results of its assessment of Adult Social Care in Salford.

The CQC is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England and has been given responsibility to assess how all local authorities in England meet their duties under the Care Act (2014).

Inspectors visited the city in November last year. Following the inspection Salford City Council has received a rating of inadequate for its adult social care services.

Salford City Council takes the findings of this inspection extremely seriously and fully acknowledges the issues identified by inspectors. The Council is committed to working openly and constructively with the CQC and with partner organisations from across the city and the region to improve outcomes for residents and carers.

In response to the inspection Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said:

“I am deeply disappointed by the report’s findings and I want to reassure you that we are changing how adult social care in Salford is delivered and we are going to fix this.

For nearly a decade, adult social care in Salford has sat in a complex set of arrangements, with council staff transferring into an Integrated Care Organisation as NHS employees with Salford Royal Foundation Trust initially from 2016 and since 2021 as part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust.

This started with around 450 staff and grew significantly over time to around 2000 members of staff with a budget of £213 million.

These arrangements haven’t delivered consistently good outcomes for Salford people, and they have not given us the grip and accountability that we need.

This is why, in April last year well before this report was published, we made the decision to bring Adult Social Care back under the direct leadership and management of the City Council.

On behalf of the City Council I want to apologise unreservedly to those residents and families who have had poor experiences of adult social care in Salford or have had to endure long waiting times for services.

This isn’t the level of service and quality of provision I expect as your Directly Elected Mayor. Adult social care arrangements in the city have simply not been fit for purpose and my personal commitment to you is that we are going to fix this. We will take back control of social care, bringing the staff and services back home safely to the City Council, supporting our residents and families to live healthy lives.”

More than a year ago, working with health and social care partners from across Salford, the City Council launched an adult social care improvement programme that addresses many of the issues that have since been highlighted by the CQC.

Ensuring safety across the adult social care system has been the Council’s priority. Since the inspection a safeguarding development plan has been put in place, safeguarding guidance has been introduced for all staff and safeguarding audits have been launched.

Salford City Council is investing an extra £4.5 million over the next 2 years to support the improvement plan and fund the recruitment of more adult social care staff.

Stephen Young, Chief Executive of Salford City Council said:

“We are committed to changing the way that adult social care is delivered in Salford. Our improvement plan is in place. We have a new leadership team to drive improvement and deliver change at pace. We are already beginning to see progress but we need to go further and faster and we will.”

In April last year it was announced by the Council that adult social care services will be brought into the direct leadership and management of the City Council. Last month 300 employees were welcomed into the Council. More employees will join the Council next month in the latest phase of the adult social care transformation programme.

Bringing services together is enabling a new vision for delivering adult social care in Salford to be created and enabling organisations and the teams within those organisations to do what they do best. The transformation will further improve workforce stability and enable continuity of care for those residents that we support.

Deputy City Mayor, Councillor Tracy Kelly has been appointed to take on Cabinet responsibilities  for Adult Social Care and Health bringing leadership around Adult Services and Health, including Public Health, directly into the remit and responsibilities of the City Mayor’s Office.

Councillor Kelly said:

“I appreciate that many of you will be concerned and frustrated by this news. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement but I am determined to put this right. I want to reassure all of those people who are being supported by adult social care services in Salford and their families, that we are determined to improve and make sure that people get the support that they deserve. Working alongside the City Mayor and a new leadership team, which is now in place, we will deliver change at pace.

Our improvement journey will be shaped by the people who use our services, our carers and by our staff and we will be open and transparent about the progress that we make.”

An Adult Social Care Improvement Board has already been established with an independent Chair, Kath O’Dwyer, formerly chief executive of St Helens Council. The Board includes local Salford health and social care system partners. Together with the City Council our partners are committed to collectively, proactively and robustly addressing, and delivering at pace, the improvements that are required.

This wasn’t an inspection of residential care homes in the city nor of those who deliver in-house care services. 94% of adult social care providers in Salford are rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission.

This page was last updated on 15 May 2026