Audit Commission asks councils to stop work on CAA

The Audit Commission has written to local authority chief executives to confirm that it is immediately stopping work on the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) programme, following the government's announcement last week in its coalition agreement that it would abolish the CAA.

The letter from Gareth Davies, the Audit Commission's Managing Director for Local Government, Housing & Community Safety, also confirmed that the assessments posted on the Oneplace website will not be updated with immediate effect

However, the Audit Commision said that it would continue with its current limited programme of risk-based inspections and that other inspectorates would continue with their standalone inspection programmes, including Ofsted's annual assessments of children’s services, pending any further announcements from the government. The letter also said that the Care Quality Commission is "considering the implications of the ending of CAA for its assessment of adult social care with the Department of Health".