Our research partnership with the Care Quality Commission (CQC)

What is the purpose of the partnership?

In 2024 the Care Quality Commission (CQC) established a research partnership with The King’s Fund as part of their commitment to invest in research, make better use of external evidence to inform their approach to regulation and embed a culture of learning and evaluation. The partnership is part of a broader research programme within CQC that aims to support the regulator to understand what makes a good service and how CQC can help providers improve, become a smarter and more flexible regulator and understand its impact.

What research are we carrying out under the partnership?

The King’s Fund is committed to working ‘in the open’ with CQC to share insights from research undertaken through the partnership with wider audiences, whenever it makes sense to do so. This page provides links to projects that are underway or completed and to reports of the findings from that work.

Evidence review to support CQC as it rebuilds its regulatory model 

The King’s Fund is working with CQC to support learning as they develop and start implementing their new approach to regulation.

A report from the scoping phase of the evaluation outlining evidence about what works in regulation can be accessed here. This was submitted to CQC in summer 2025.

The King’s Fund lead for this work is Ruth Robertson.

Principles for ‘outstanding’ care

The King’s Fund has undertaken a rapid piece of research to identify a set of principles that set out what outstanding care in health and social care providers looks like.

The King’s Fund lead for this work is Lillie Wenzel.

Who should I contact to find out more?

Ruth Robertson is The King’s Fund lead for the research partnership.