WIREDGOV

Listening to, understanding and acting on the experiences of people using health and social care services is vital to delivering high-quality care.

Information from people’s experiences allow us to better understand the quality of care providers deliver, and informs how we assess services. It also improves how we monitor the rights of people who are detained under the Mental Health Act.

Following a formal procurement process, we are pleased to announce that Choice Support will continue to deliver our Experts by Experience (ExE) programme, and, the Voices for Health Equality Partnership, led by National Voices and supported by Innovation Unit and Collaborate CIC, will manage our Public Engagement Network (PEN). 

ExE are people with current or recent experience of using, or caring for someone who uses, the services we regulate, and they take part in inspections and other activities.

The PEN brings together more than 200 equality VCSE organisations from across England who share insights with CQC on experiences of care within communities they serve.

Contracts will begin in April 2026 and will run for three years. This will ensure we continue to place people’s experience at the centre of our regulatory activities, deliver on our statutory duty to involve people with lived experience in our work, and support our continued improvement.

Kim Arnold, National Lead at Choice Support said:

We’re proud to announce that we’ve been awarded the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Experts by Experience contract.

This achievement reflects our continued commitment to amplifying the voices of people with lived experience and ensuring they play a central role in shaping high quality care.

We look forward to supporting CQC in strengthening insight, improving services, and driving meaningful change across health and social care.

Sarah Sweeney, Director of Evidence and Improvement at National Voices said:

When people talk about health inequalities, it can sometimes feel as though they are describing something abstract: a disparity in access or a statistic in a report. But when we engage communities who experience health inequalities, it feels much more personal: a loved one lost, a quiet indignity experienced, a fear that compassionate care will not be forthcoming. 

At National Voices, we want to make sure these voices travel to the heart of the system, shaping how services are delivered, assessed and improved. We are optimistic about how this programme of work with CQC and the VCSE sector can turn insight into action, evidence into change and ensure care is truly safe, effective and compassionate for everyone.

Chris Day, Director of Engagement at CQC said:

We know how invaluable it is to hear, and act on, the voices of people who use services. This work underlines our continued commitment to ensuring the lived experience of people impacts on all aspects of our regulatory activity, driving change for people who use services and directly addressing inequalities. I am delighted that we will be working with Choice Support and National Voices for the next three years to drive this work forward.

Experts by Experience