Skills for Care has published its refreshed Leadership Qualities Framework (LQF), modelling what great leadership looks like in adult social care.
The updated framework sets out the behaviours, skills, and mindsets that define great leadership across adult social care. Aligned with the Care Workforce Pathway, it shows what effective leadership looks like at every level, not just management.
Included within the LQF is the new Management and Leadership Code for Health and Social Care, developed by NHS England with Skills for Care and sector partners. This new code sets out shared values that guide leaders in creating safe, supportive, and ethical care environments.
The updated framework follows the ‘Leadership for a collaborative and inclusive future’ review (known as the Messenger review 2022), which focused on the best ways to strengthen leadership and management across health and adult social care in England.
The LQF outlines five dimensions of leadership, describing what good leadership looks like from frontline care roles through to strategic management. These have been reviewed by partners across social care, and have a strengthened focus on co-production, equality and increasing digital confidence.
A practical self-assessment tool to help users identify strengths, pinpoint development needs, and plan their growth.
The Framework is intended to be used by individuals to assess their own leadership performance; line managers to review their teams’ performance, and by organisations to support with staff recruitment, selection and development.
Jayne McCabe, National Leadership and Management Lead, Skills for Care, says:
“This important refresher of the Leadership Qualities Framework is a really positive step forward for leadership development in adult social care. The Framework recognises the important role of leaders in social care and their impact on care quality. It provides a practical guide to the key qualities of effective leadership at all levels within the sector, aligned to the Care Workforce Pathway. It aims to help people see leadership as a characteristic that runs through the workforce, covering not just actions but behaviours. We’re excited to see how the framework and codes help to build understanding of the impact of great leadership across adult social care and what that looks like.”
Explore the updated framework on the Skills for Care website.
