Inspectors have graded North Yorkshire Council’s adult social care provision among the best in the country.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the authority ‘good’ for meeting its responsibilities to ensure people have access to adult social care and support following an inspection in June.
Inspectors awarded the authority an overall score of 81, which places the council joint third in the country, alongside Wokingham Council with more than half of all reports published for 153 local authorities in England.
The only local authorities to be awarded an outstanding rating so far are Camden along with Kensington and Chelsea.
The inspectors found that people in North Yorkshire were positive about the care and support they received from the council, and that they were given the advice and information they needed to make the necessary choices about their social care.
Staff were also praised for working closely with people using social care and inspectors said the support provided is well-organised.
Chris Badger, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said inspectors found that people living in North Yorkshire had access to safe, high-quality adult social care services.
He added: “This was down to strong and approachable leaders who really understood the day-to-day challenges their frontline staff were facing.
“The authority had an excellent, inclusive learning culture. It was positive to hear that staff had access to ongoing training and support to safely and effectively carry out their roles. They also felt well supported by senior leaders and confident raising concerns to help keep people safe.
“Leaders were committed to engaging with people and communities who faced inequalities, to help understand and respond to risks they faced.
“For example, across North Yorkshire there were transport issues in rural areas, so staff were creative and reached rural communities at farmers’ markets. This was so people could access services, such as having their blood pressure taken, and receive helpful information and advice.”
Mr Badger said inspectors were also told about the authority’s plans to build new care and support hubs, to provide short-term bed-based rehabilitation and specialist dementia support for people when they are discharged from hospital.
Inspectors said issues remained around access to some mental health services and home care in rural areas, although pilot schemes were in place to help to address this.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for health and adult services, Cllr Michael Harrison, said: “To have received such an encouraging report is testament to all the hard work, determination and talent of our staff and partners in the community, including people who use care and support services, across England’s largest county.
“While there is much that is positive, there is still much more work to do as we face significant pressures both financially and in terms of people’s changing needs and expectations of social care.
“I would like to thank everyone involved for all that they do and would urge us all to use this report to drive forward further improvements in the future.”
The county’s extra care home programme was praised by the CQC’s inspectors, with the authority now offering more than 1,500 apartments in towns and villages across the county to help older and disabled people live independently.
A total of 9,955 people are supported through North Yorkshire Council’s adult social care services.
North Yorkshire Council spent £251m on adult social care in 2024/25, which was more than 43 per cent of the local authority’s total budget of nearly £577m.
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