The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its latest assessment of Leeds’ adult social care provision, labelling it ‘good’.

The CQC has praised Leeds city council for the wide range of ways they have provided residents with care, putting special emphasis on the ‘skilled, knowledgeable and committed staff’.

They said: ‘Staff understood the culturally diverse communities and the barriers to care and support. We heard positive engagement from people within those communities.’

Another area the CQC highlighted as a strength was leadership. They said the leaders of Leeds local authority had a clear strategy to follow to give the people of Leeds the best outcome. 

This came under their main plan called ‘The Best City Ambition’, which aimed to tackle poverty and inequalities, and to improve the quality of life for people in Leeds. 

Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s executive member for adult social care, active lifestyles and culture said: “This was a vigorous assessment of how we as a council and our partners all work together to deliver high-quality and effective adult social care in Leeds.

“We want Leeds to continue to be a great place to grow older in, and the findings in this report provide confidence and reassurance of the many areas of good practise taking place across communities.

“However we are not complacent and know there is still more to be done, particularly around increasing uptake of ‘direct payments’, improving consistency of support for unpaid carers, and further reducing the waiting lists for assessment and reviews.”

The assessment can be viewed on the CQC’s website at: https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/local-authority-assessment-reports/leeds-1025