What great leadership looks like in adult social care

Jayne McCabe, National Leadership and Management Lead, Skills for Care discusses what great leadership looks like in adult social care and how the refreshed Leadership Qualities Framework (LQF) is supporting this.

Every day in people's own homes, in care settings, and across our community, remarkable things happen because of brilliant leadership in health and social care.

With effective support people live better, safer, and more dignified lives. And it’s not just managers who are responsible for providing great leadership in social care; leadership applies at levels. Whether that’s care workers spotting issues early or colleagues supporting each other to learn new ways of working.

Good leadership also means better staff retention rates and increased mental and physical wellbeing. It makes health and social care a more attractive place to work, including to young people who are the future of our workforce.

If we want more people to join and stay in the health and social care sectors so we can provide the care and support our community deserves, we need to have strong and consistent leadership across adult social care.

The good news is that we already know exactly what outstanding leadership looks like:

• team leaders who run safe, calm, kind and inclusive teams

• community leaders keeping people out of hospital and supporting staff wellbeing
• care home managers whose staff turnover is half the national average
• directors who role-model accountability, responsibility and curiosity.

These leaders aren’t super-human. They’re trained, supported, and held to clear expectations. So how do we ensure this is the case across the board? We bring the best of our knowledge together across the system and we create a standard to work towards together.

The impact of a good leader is felt not only by the individuals they lead, but by the services they operate and the people who draw on support.

That’s why outstanding leadership needs to be the standard across social care, and we’re supporting this with our newly refreshed Leadership Qualities Framework.

The 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, with a stronger focus on co‑production, equality, and digital confidence.

The refreshed framework is a really positive step forward in developing a consistent level of leadership across adult social care, and building a sector-wide understanding of what great leadership looks like and why it matters.

The practical self-assessment tool within the framework can also be used by leaders to identify strengths, pinpoint development needs, and plan personal growth.

Let’s make outstanding leadership the rule, not the exception.

Explore the Framework. 

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