Star ratings for care services get the go ahead

9 January 2007

Plans to develop a star rating system to judge care providers on how well they run their services were approved at our Commissioners' meeting last month.

People who use services, providers and councils will now be invited to help us make sure the system is run properly and checked thoroughly by everyone involved.

Following our public consultation on star ratings, launched in August, nearly 3,000 people said they supported the use of stars to describe ratings.

Public say they want more information

A survey of more than 1,000 people carried out on our behalf found 96% want as much information as possible when making choices about services.

Our chair Dame Denise Platt said: “These new star ratings will be of significant benefit to people who use social care services, both now and in the future - so that they can make informed choices about the quality of care services in their area.”

Key decisions made by the Commissioners were:

  • to use a star ratings system ranging from 0-3
  • to use extra words such as poor, adequate, good and excellent to show what each star means.

Find out more

Created: 1/9/2007 Last updated: 1/23/2007