The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has given ratings to the first three council adult social care after it took on the responsibility for their regulation.

The three councils in question are West Berkshire, Hounslow and Hertfordshire.

The inspector handed out ‘good’ ratings to all three services. The ‘good’ rating is the second highest the CQC gives, after ‘outstanding’.

Despite sticking to the same ratings, the CQC is using different criteria when inspecting councils, scoring them out of four in nine different categories.

For example, West Berkshire Council received scores of ‘3’ for how it works with people, as well as its safeguarding, leadership and more.

Elsewhere, it received a lower score of ‘two ‘2’ for its work with partners and the community.

James Bullion, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said of the service: “Staff told us they liked working for the authority and we saw a strong, positive culture, with good systems in place to develop their skills and support them to learn from people’s feedback when things went wrong.”

He concluded: “Overall, West Berkshire Council should be pleased with this assessment.”

Hounslow Council performed even better, scoring seven ‘3’ scores and only two ‘2s’, while Hertfordshire County Council was the only of the three councils to receive a ‘4’, for its work with “partnerships and communities”. It received a ‘3’ in every other category.

See the full list of criteria for inspection below:

• How the local authority works with people;
• Supporting people to lead healthier lives;
• Equity in experience and outcomes;
• Providing support (care provision, integration and continuity);
• Partnership and communities;
• How the local authority ensures safety in the system;
• Safeguarding;
• Leadership;
• Learning, improvement and innovation.