Guidance

Guidance for the adult social care survey, England: 2024 to 2025

Published 20 November 2025

Applies to England

*[SDCS] Strategic Data Collection Service

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is now responsible for the adult social care survey (ASCS). Some survey materials, including translated versions, may still refer to NHS England. This does not affect any of the survey or submission process.

If you have any queries about the survey or any of the materials, email asc.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.

Introduction

This document sets out the guidelines for conducting the adult social care survey, formerly known as the personal social services adult social care survey. All councils with adult social services responsibilities (CASSRs) in England are required to conduct this annual postal survey of service users. Questionnaires are sent to people receiving community-based services or in residential and nursing care and ask users about:

• their quality of life
• the impact of services on their quality of life
• their general health and well-being

The data collected is sent to DHSC and is used:

• as the basis of analyses that are included in national level official statistics reports
• to populate several metrics in the adult social care outcomes framework (ASCOF) - for more information see the ‘ASCS and ASCOF’ section below
• to inform and support policy and decision making at both the local and national level; to improve care, services and outcomes for local populations

The survey was developed in conjunction with the Social Services User Survey Group (SSUSG). See the ‘Further information sources’ chapter for details.

If you are conducting the survey, then you must read this document in full before starting work.    

You must follow this guidance as closely as possible to ensure that the survey results from different CASSRs and regions are comparable. The Health Research Authority Social Care Research Ethics Committee (SCREC) has approved the research design and materials.

The national data opt-out will not apply to ASCS 2025 to 2026. Further work is underway with CASSRs to support the implementation of national data opt-out across health and care.

You must contact DHSC if you face exceptional circumstances which make it necessary to deviate from this guidance, for example if questionnaires cannot be distributed and returned in the given fieldwork period. You do not need to take any action until we have provided approval.   

If we believe that you have changed materials or practices in a manner which has compromised the robustness or comparability of the survey results, then we will note these incidences in the data quality section of the survey report.

If you have any comments or suggestions for improvements, or if you are unclear about what to do, contact the adult social care survey team by email at asc.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.

About ASCS

ASCS helps us to understand outcomes for people and how services support them.

In 2014, the Care Act improved transparency, accountability and personalisation in health and social care.  

ASCS collects data on outcomes of those receiving council-funded or managed adult social care.

ASCS data is intended to be used to:

• monitor and benchmark performance through national outcome metrics
• inform, monitor and develop delivery of services locally
• enable people to make better choices about their care

While some CASSRs may undertake regular feedback through their agreements with service providers, this survey gives a greater insight into outcomes for service users and provides a consistent basis for comparing results across different areas. Feedback from CASSRs has confirmed that ASCS is a valuable tool for monitoring and improving local service provision.

ASCS is designed so that each individual outcome can be broken down into smaller groups, making it easier to understand differences between them. Therefore, as well as providing an overall quality of life index, the survey provides evidence on:

• whether specific groups experience better outcomes
• whether services are meeting all outcome needs
• in time, the value added by adult social care services

ASCS and ASCOF

Data from ASCS is used to populate the following outcome metrics in the ASCOF:

• 1A - social care related quality of life
• 3A - the proportion of people who use services who have control over their daily life (previously 1B)
• 5A - part 1 the proportion of service users who report that they have as much social contact as they would like (previously 1I1)
• 1B - adjusted social care-related quality of life - impact of adult social care services (previously 1J)
• 1D - overall satisfaction of people who use service with their care and support (previously 3A)
• 3C part 1 - the proportion of service users who find it easy to find information about services (previously 3D1)
• 4A - the proportion of people who use services who feel safe

Note: some of the metric IDs changed following the release of the 2023 to 2024 ASCOF handbook. The previous metric 4B (the proportion of people who use services who say that those services have made them feel safe and secure) is no longer included in ASCOF.

You can find the definitions for these outcome metrics in the Adult social care outcomes framework: handbook of definitions.

Overview

This chapter covers the design of ASCS and lists the materials to be used by CASSRs. It also covers how to:

• maximise response rates
• engage staff and the public
• maintain confidentiality
• manage information governance with third party providers

Survey materials

In addition to this guidance, the following documents are available on the main ASCS page.

Survey materials ASCS 2025 to 2026

This folder contains the following documents in English:

• questionnaire - and a large print version - for:
  • people residing in the community
  • people in residential and nursing care
  • demographics (optional)
• covering letter - and a large print version
• reminder letter - and a large print version
• letter to residential and nursing care home managers to inform or check capacity to consent
• letter to residential and nursing care home managers to encourage responses
• face-to-face and telephone interview scripts - for use on request - for:
  • people residing in the community
  • people in residential and nursing care
• consent form - used only for face-to-face interviews
• translation request sheet - for people to request the survey in one of the languages listed below
• additional questions form (Excel document)

Plain English survey materials ASCS 2025 to 2026

The plain English materials will be published soon.

This folder will contain the following documents in plain English for service users in stratum 1, people with a learning disability and when requested:

• questionnaire - and a large print version - for:
  • people residing in the community
  • people in residential and nursing care
  • demographics (optional)
• face-to-face interview script - for people in residential and nursing care
• consent form - used only for face-to-face interviews
• covering letter - and a large print version
• reminder letter - and a large print version

Translation materials ASCS 2025 to 2026

This folder contains translated versions of the community questionnaire, covering letter, reminder letter and consent form in the following 17 languages:

• Arabic
• Bengali
• French
• Greek
• Gujarati
• Hindi
• Italian
• Mandarin
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Punjabi (India)
• Somali
• Spanish
• Tamil
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese

Other documents

The other documents on the page are the:

• ASCS question bank (Excel document) - previously approved additional questions
• ASCS sample size calculator (Excel document)
• ASCS survey data return (Excel document)

Changes to the 2025 to 2026 materials

No major changes have been made to the materials shared.

Maximising response rates

It is important that you get as many responses as possible to reduce the risk of non-response bias. For example, if more people who are dissatisfied with services respond to the survey, then the results will overestimate the level of dissatisfaction in the population. The higher the level of non-response, the greater the risk of non-response bias in your results. Increasing the sample size, without changing the response rate, will not mitigate this problem.

We have designed the survey to maximise the number of responses. The questionnaire and covering letters are written to help service users understand that participation is a worthwhile activity. The survey materials guarantee confidentiality and highlight the steps to take if service users need help to complete the survey.

We have designed ASCS to enable as wide a range as possible of potential respondents, including:

• people who do not have English as a first language
• people with disabilities and long-term health conditions
• people with limited literacy skills
• anyone who needs support to complete the questionnaire

You are also expected to give due consideration to the diversity of needs of service users in your area in terms of provision of materials and assistance.

You are advised not to use incentives. This is to ensure that the data is comparable across CASSRs. Previous analysis on question responses for CASSRs that used incentives discovered differences in the question responses. It did not increase the number of people who responded.

Engaging CASSR staff

Make sure all your staff are aware of ASCS and its aims and objectives. This includes staff who are not directly involved with ASCS but who may work with service users. This way, if asked by service users, staff can encourage responses and discuss any concerns.

You must also inform your senior management about ASCS. It is an ethical requirement that participating CASSRs get senior management permission before sending out questionnaires to service users.

It is in your interest that senior management are informed of the need to undertake ASCS and engaged as early as possible.

You may have to carry out a local ethical review if you do not run ASCS in the way outlined in this guidance document, or if you choose to include additional questions in the questionnaires. The ‘Finalising materials’ section of the next chapter has more information on additional questions.

Telling service users about the survey in advance

You should consider engaging the public, especially service users, as early as possible. This encourages participation and maximises response rates.

You should consider issuing a general press release through the local press or through relevant local service user group networks.

You may also wish to let local service user organisations know about the survey, so they can publicise it with service users.

Confidentiality

You must ensure that all information on participating service users remains confidential. Staff in CASSRs, other than those administering ASCS, cannot know whether individuals have completed a questionnaire or how questions were answered. The questionnaires, covering and reminder letters all contain assurances of confidentiality.

You need to generate a serial number or unique reference number for each ASCS questionnaire so that your returned questionnaires can be mapped back to a participant. This means you can follow up with people who have not responded and bring together information from a variety of data sources. You will therefore need to consider how personal data is handled in line with data protection law (UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)).

You must strictly control access to the service user details that are used to send out the ASCS questionnaire. Computer files need to be password protected and stored on a secure server, and access to these must be restricted to those involved in:

• posting the ASCS questionnaire
• adding the serial number to the questionnaires
• setting up codes for analysis

Unsecured email addresses must never be used to send content which includes the names or other personal details of service users. Completed ASCS questionnaires must be stored securely in locked cabinets.

You must retain paper copies of all questionnaires until the publication of the final 2025 to 2026 ASCS report. After this point you are free to securely dispose of paper copies. You may wish to retain paper copies for longer if you believe that participants are likely to take part in any follow-up studies.

The treatment of paper and scanned copies must be in line with your local information governance procedures and meet the requirements of UK GDPR.

Survey costs

You should be able to estimate how much you will have to spend on ASCS by drawing on your experience of running previous surveys as well as consideration of the process outlined in this guidance. Costs will include the following.

Staff time

Surveys are staff-intensive activities. You might consider appointing a project manager to ensure all the necessary stages of the survey progress according to timetable and to take responsibility for selecting the sample and negotiating with social workers.

More routine activities could be allocated to other staff, for example:

• checking the sample
• printing all the necessary documents
• sending out questionnaires and reminders
• monitoring response
• booking in returned questionnaires

You could allocate more specialist activities, such as local level analysis of the results, to trained staff.

Stationery

You need to print copies of questionnaires and other materials. You will also need to provide and stuff envelopes, attach address labels and pay for postage. This includes paying postage on envelopes for service users to return their completed survey.

Outsourcing the survey

You may consider outsourcing elements of ASCS to a third party. For example, a data capture company might be used to scan completed de-identified questionnaires into a data set format. This approach may help you meet submission deadlines by removing the need to enter data manually.

When deciding whether to outsource elements of ASCS to a third party, you should refer to your local information governance arrangements in the first instance. This is because the third party will need to ensure that all relevant information governance issues are considered throughout the process of exploring, making and implementing an outsourcing decision. If a decision is made to outsource elements of ASCS, then you must continue to work in line with data protection laws, including UK GDPR.

In running ASCS, you are likely to be acting as a data controller, outsourcing tasks under clear instruction and with strict controls to third parties who then act as data processors in carrying out the agreed work. You are responsible for ensuring that any third party operates by an acceptable code of conduct, particularly around confidentiality.

Other costs

You will also need to account for the cost of phone bills and interviewers where the service user requests the questionnaire to be administered by telephone or by face-to-face interview.

Further additional costs can arise from providing other accessible formats to ensure all participants can complete the survey - for example, translating any additional questions or producing a Braille version.

Data sharing with service providers

If you outsource any of your service user services to external organisations, you should ensure that systems and agreements for data sharing and protection are established with relevant parties. It is recommended that data sharing requirements are written into contracts when setting up such arrangements.

Where required, you should be sure that service users are made aware that data sharing with third parties may be required. This ensures both the smooth running of the assessment and delivery process, and the ability to evaluate the performance of providers and CASSRs through mechanisms such as surveys. As with outsourced survey partners, this issue must be considered in the context of UK GDPR.

Preparing the survey

This section covers the actions you need to take to prepare the survey before questionnaires are sent out to participating service users. Ahead of this fieldwork period you must:

• make necessary amendments to written materials
• determine the eligible population
• generate administrative information

You also have the option to include additional questions from the question bank and to formulate and submit your own questions to DHSC to include in the ASCS questionnaire for local research purposes. See more information on additional questions in the ‘Finalising additional questions’ section below.

Finalising materials

You need to customise the survey materials provided alongside this guidance. Sections which require amending are identified with red text and yellow highlighting (you must remove all highlighted and red text once amendments are completed).

You may also adapt the materials to match the formats you use to produce and process your other publications. This may include, for example, making changes to enable the use of specialist survey software in the production of, and scanning of, questionnaires.

Any amendments must be minor and must not be made without prior consent from DHSC. You should send any amendment requests to asc.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.

You do not need to email your final blank versions of letters and questionnaires to DHSC for review.

Finalising letters to care homes

You need to finalise the 2 letters that must be sent to nursing and care home managers:

• to inform managers and check service users’ capacity to consent
• to encourage responses

If you hold information to assess whether a resident has capacity to consent to the survey, this can be used. You just need to inform the care home that the survey is taking place, and the survey must be sent directly to the resident.

If you do not hold information to assess if a resident has capacity to consent, you must send the letter to care homes to identify service users who do not have the mental capacity to consent to participate in the survey.

The letters promote the survey to managers and encourage their active involvement in ensuring that questionnaires reach service users and that support is provided to allow service users to participate. Care home managers should inform you if a service user has permanent loss of capacity. Where this has been indicated, the service user should be excluded from the sampling frame for all future surveys.

If you do not know the name of the relevant manager, address the letter to ‘The Registered Manager’, to ensure they are opened. These letters may be sent before or after the initial sample has been selected.

You may email the letters to care home managers rather than sending them by post. You must ensure that you use a secure email address for both sender and recipient. Unsecured email addresses must never be used to send content which includes the names or other personal details of users. 

Finalising covering and reminder letters

You must add:

• the name of your social services department or relevant service user’s team
• your CASSR’s relevant contact details including a postal and email address and a telephone number
• a telephone number for service users to access independent support and advice to help them complete the ASCS questionnaire
• all relevant dates - these can be found in the ‘Timetable’ chapter of this guidance
• your corporate logo and the director of adult social services’ signature
• details for the service user to make independent complaints. The contact details need to be independent of the adult social care or research team that is administering ASCS. You may include contact details of the CASSR’s complaint service provided this is independent of the survey

No other format changes are permitted. No other text may be deleted, added or amended - unless with prior permission from DHSC.

In addition to the covering letter, you must also provide additional transparency information to the service user to inform them of their rights. This information should be in the form of a separate printed information sheet and/or a link to the CASSR’s online privacy or transparency notice.

Finalising questionnaires

You must create and add a unique serial number for tracking respondents to an appropriate location on the ASCS questionnaire. This is so that the non-questionnaire information can be added to the questionnaire data on the survey data return document. CASSR staff should not, however, be able to identify the respondent (see the ‘Breaching confidentiality’ section in the ‘Collecting the data’ chapter). You should place the unique serial number on the survey in a way that minimises the opportunity for inadvertent removal by respondents.

You must also decide how many optional questions you wish to use. These include optional free text questions as well as a question concerning participants’ willingness to participate in further research. If you choose to include an optional question in the standard survey, then it must also be included in the plain English and translated versions.

If you remove an optional question, move the next question up so new white space is not added to the survey. You should also change the question numbers to avoid confusion. For example, if question 4b is not being used, rename question 4a to question 4.

Note: demographic questions do not count towards the additional 6 questions allowed (as outlined in the ‘Finalising additional questions’ section).

You must not make certain changes to the questionnaires. The following changes are not permitted under any circumstances on questionnaires:

• deleting any mandatory question
• changing the wording of existing questions
• changing the size or style of font used
• removing white space so that the questionnaire fits on fewer pages
• adding CASSR details, corporate logos or branding
• removing the dotted lines between response categories
• removing or changing any of the pictures on the plain English version of the questionnaire
• changing the structure of the plain English version of the questionnaire that results in each question not being on a separate page (parts a and b of the same question can be on the same page)

Unpermitted changes might undermine the survey results. If they do occur, DHSC may list them in the data quality section of the survey report to allow those who use the data to assess its strengths and comparability.

You must include contact boxes at the end of the survey to ask if the respondent wants to receive information on the results of this survey. This could be the national report published on GOV.UK or a local version you have developed. You can amend the text at the end of the questionnaire to reflect the report you will send. A postal version of your report on the results of this survey must be included as an option.

You must only send service users the materials they need to complete the survey. You must not use the survey to send out any other information such as promotional leaflets.

Finalising additional questions

You can add up to a maximum of 6 additional questions and/or free text boxes into your questionnaire.

These questions may be:

• for local research purposes
• added in conjunction with other CASSRs in the same region to provide benchmarking data to support locally focussed improvements. The inclusion of locally relevant questions may encourage participation and improve response rates

These 6 questions and/or free text boxes may be from the question bank of previously approved questions or new questions.

New questions include those that have been:

• newly created for the purpose of this survey
• reused from a previous version of the survey but not included in the question banks
• adapted from existing question bank items or questions previously used and approved

New questions must be subject to cognitive testing to ensure that they are understood by users of care services in the way that they are intended. New questions must also be approved in accordance with local research governance arrangements, since they will not have been accounted for in the research ethics clearance given by SCREC. This does not apply to questions used in a previous version of the survey and that are not included in the question bank, but that have gone through the required testing and approval.

Previously approved additional questions (that is questions in the current question bank) do not need approval from DHSC and can be included in the survey.

You must submit any proposals for new additional questions and free text boxes using the additional questions form. Send the completed form to asc.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.

The deadline for submitting new question requests is 28 November 2025.

If DHSC approves the questions, you can add them to your survey.

Note, new questions that have not been cognitively tested or approved in accordance with local governance arrangements will be rejected. You can reuse a question from a previous version of the survey if it has been previously tested and locally approved. To speed up the approval of your question, you can submit the previous additional question form along with your new form so we can cross reference the approval.

If you are including additional questions, you must:

• make sure questions address a genuine research need and relate to the purpose of the survey
• have a reason to collect the information and know how it will be used. You must not ask for information that you do not need
• consider whether you need a new question, or whether you can add a free text box to an existing question. A free text box will allow respondents to provide contextual information which may be very relevant for local purposes
• aim to make the question relevant to all service users receiving a questionnaire - this will help to mitigate any potential negative impact on response rates that the inclusion of additional questions may have. One way to make sure questions remain relevant to all service users is to include a ‘not applicable’ type option
• ensure that the wording of each question and its response options or free text box is consistent with the rest of the survey, so that it reads as a cohesive and unified survey. For example, if you’d like to include a free text box to explore one of the mandatory questions in more detail, you might use wording similar to the text box linked to question 13
• make sure that the placement of any new questions does not affect the understanding of subsequent questions
• include them in the translated, large print and plain English versions of the questionnaire
• avoid including questions on emotionally sensitive or potentially distressing topics (such as self-harm), as these may be difficult for care users and could negatively affect response rates

You cannot add questions to gather information about the religion or sexual orientation of service users.

Determining participation

You will need to determine the:

• list of service users who are eligible to participate in the survey (the eligible population)
• group from which the sample is drawn (the sample frame)
• list of those to whom questionnaires are distributed (the sample)

You must follow this process to get a sample from the eligible population:

1. Eligible population: all service users aged over 18 who are in receipt of long-term support services funded or managed by the CASSR, if the table were populated on your chosen extract date rather than 31 March. This is the same population of service users who would have been reported in table LTS001b of the SALT return.
2. Sample frame: your eligible population minus those who have been excluded because their circumstances have changed since the extract date (see more in the ‘Eligible population’ section below) and those who have asked to be excluded from surveys.
3. Initial sample: the service users you have selected to receive a questionnaire. See more on selecting a sample in the ‘Sample’ section below.
4. Final sample: the service users you send a questionnaire to following any final exclusions and replacements.

Eligible population

You must extract the population of service users who are eligible to participate in the survey on a date between 30 September and 31 December 2025.

The eligible population includes all service users who are aged over 18 who are in receipt of long-term support services funded or managed by the CASSR. This is the same population as those who would have been reported in table LTS001b of the SALT return if this were populated in relation to the chosen extract date. From the date you extract the population data, service users must be in receipt of long-term support services funded or managed by the council following a full assessment of need. This includes part-funded and full cost paying clients.

Once the eligible population has been extracted, you should check that your records are correct, for example, that all contact data is up to date.

As you check the data you may discover that some:

• records were out of date at the time of your extraction
• subjects in the extract should not have been included in the eligible population figure (for example if a service user has died, moved away or stopped using services over 12 months before the eligible population was extracted)

In such cases, you must remove subjects from the eligible population figure.

Once the eligible population has been extracted it must be divided into 4 discrete strata, so that you can:

• calculate the sample size for each stratum
• draw a systematic random sample

The 4 strata are derived from service users’ primary support reasons, ages and support settings:

• stratum 1: learning disability support for all ages in all settings
• stratum 2: non-learning disability support for those aged 18 to 64 in all settings
• stratum 3: non-learning disability support for those aged 65 and over in long-term residential or nursing care
• stratum 4: non-learning disability support for those aged 65 and over in community-based services (including supported living)

Sample frame

At this stage, depending on the completeness and quality of the data extracted, you must create a discrete sample frame by excluding members of the eligible population who cannot be selected to receive a questionnaire.

Exclude people whose circumstances have changed since the data extract such as service users who: 

• have died
• have moved away from the area
• will be in hospital at the time of the survey
• are in active dispute with you at the time the survey is being sent out. A dispute is defined as a complaint that cannot be resolved by the CASSR and moves on to be handled outside of the CASSR by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
• are involved in an open safeguarding alert or investigation
• have contacted, or whose carers or advocates have contacted, you in the past expressing a preference to opt out of surveys or complain about receiving a survey (the national data opt-out does not apply to the 2025 to 2026 survey)
• are in prison or a detention centre
• are living in residential or nursing care homes who are known to have permanent loss of capacity, as indicated by care home managers in their response to the letter to care homes
• are known to lack the mental capacity to consent to participate in the current year’s survey. This includes service users in the community, in residential or nursing care or supported accommodation. This information could be from a social care assessment
• are known to have a court appointed deputy, indicating that they lack the mental capacity to consent to take part. If you cannot identify if the service user has a court appointed deputy, for example, if the outcome of a court assessment is not known, then they should not be removed from the sampling frame
• are under a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard (DoLS) authorisation. If a service user is under a DoLS authorisation, then they have had a mental capacity assessment satisfied which says they lack capacity to make decisions about their care. This indicates they lack capacity to consent to take part in the survey

Do not exclude service users if they have registered within the council but are temporarily placed out of your area. These service users should remain in the eligible population and in the sampling frame if they are being funded by you.

We would encourage you to undertake these checks and exclusions while you are generating your sample frame. If you wait until after the sample has been drawn to exclude service users, then you will have to replace those who are excluded from your sample.

You may also consider excluding eligible service users if they have recently participated in a survey and you believe that resurveying them could lead to survey fatigue and a low response rate. If you need advice on whether or not to exclude service users due to survey fatigue, contact DHSC at asc.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.

You should only remove service users due to survey fatigue if you can still achieve a sufficiently large sample size to meet the minimum requirement, and if removing the service users will not cause the survey’s sample to be biased. For example, bias could occur if, after removing the service users, your survey is overly focused on service users from a certain geographical area or with a certain characteristic (for example, living with dementia). If you are unsure about introducing bias into your sample frame, then you must contact DHSC for advice.

Note that a service user appearing in the ASCS sample in consecutive years would not be considered to cause survey fatigue and would not be a legitimate reason to remove them from the sample.

You must not exclude service users because they have a reputation for complaining about services. This would bias the survey results and therefore reduce their usefulness.

Any service users removed (due to survey fatigue or because they’ve asked to be removed) must still be included in your eligible population.

Sample

ASCS employs a stratified random sampling method because there is a wide range of service users accessing different services and support in different settings. See the ‘Eligible population’ section above for more information on the strata. This minimises the sampling error of any statistics which are estimated from the survey data. This helps ensure the robustness of the published estimates.

You can sample a different proportion of users in each stratum (for example, oversample in some of the smaller strata if it is of interest). This increases the precision of any survey estimates for a particular sub-population of your service users.

How to calculate the sample size

Once all service users in the eligible population have been assigned to a stratum, you must estimate how many service users should be included in the sample for each stratum. Your sample size must produce survey results that will have a required overall margin of error of less than plus or minus 5%.

The sample size calculator document enables you to estimate how many service users you need to sample to achieve the minimum required margin of error of less than plus or minus 5%.

To calculate the correct sample size, you must enter the number of eligible service users in each stratum, along with the predicted response rates for each stratum into ‘Table 1: fulfilling minimum requirements by strata’ in the first tab of the sample size calculator.

The predicted response rate could be estimated from local surveys of service users that you have previously conducted, or your response rate to the last ASCS. It is advisable to underestimate the predicted response rates. If the predicted response rate is not achieved, the overall margin of error requirement may not be met.

Table 1 below shows an example sample size for a CASSR with 12,000 eligible service users across the 4 strata. The predicted response rate varies between 40% and 55%. The table shows that for service users with a learning disability of any age in this scenario, with an anticipated response rate of 50%, the total number of completed questionnaires needed is 31, which implies that 63 questionnaires need to be sent out to allow for non-response.

The overall margin of error is plus or minus 5% however the level of accuracy for each stratum is lower, varying from plus or minus 7.1% to plus or minus 17.3%. A wider margin of error makes findings less conclusive.

Table 1: minimum sample size calculation by strata

	Eligible population	Anticipated response rate based on previous surveys (%)	Number of returned questionnaires needed to meet the 5% margin of error	Sample size - number of questionnaires to be sent out based on anticipated response rate	Margin of error at strata level (%)
All	12,000	Not applicable	373	856	5.0%
Stratum 1	1,000	50%	31	63	17.3%
Stratum 2	3,000	55%	93	170	10.0%
Stratum 3	2,000	40%	62	156	12.2%
Stratum 4	6,000	40%	187	467	7.1%

You may choose to send out more questionnaires than needed to meet the minimum requirement, to reduce the margin of error and increase the accuracy of the survey. If you take this approach, completing ‘Table 2: oversampling to improve precision in stratum results’ in the first tab of the sample size calculator, allows you to calculate the required sample size at a nominated level of precision.

As a rough guide, table 2 below shows the number of questionnaires that need to be sent out to reduce the margin of error. For example, to reduce the margin of error from 17.3% to 5.0% for service users of any age with a learning disability, the number of questionnaires to be sent out is increased from 63 to 557.

Table 2: surveying more than the minimum requirement

	Eligible population	Anticipated response rate based on previous surveys (%)	Margin of error required at strata level (%)	Number of returned questionnaires needed to meet the 5% margin of error	Sample size - number of questionnaires to be sent out based on anticipated response rate
Stratum 1	1,000	50%	5.0%	278	557
Stratum 2	3,000	55%	10.0%	93	170
Stratum 3	2,000	40%	12.2%	62	156
Stratum 4	6,000	40%	7.1%	187	468

You must not send out fewer than the number of questionnaires needed in each stratum to meet the minimum requirement. You must aim to meet the minimum requirement of returned questionnaires for each stratum. This will ensure the overall requirement of returned questionnaires is met.

Selecting the sample

You must take a random sample of eligible service users to ensure that the results of the survey are representative of all service users. The ASCS uses systematic random sampling. A systematic random sample is when one in a certain number of service users in each stratum is randomly selected using a consistent pattern, for example every 6th or 10th service user.

A random starting point and required sampling interval for each stratum are calculated in the sample size calculator. The ‘Selecting the sample from EP’ and ‘Selecting the sample-boost - EP’ tabs will be pre-populated based on the information you have already entered.

You may also choose to select a reserve sample in cases where service users must be removed from the primary sample, or if you find that the response rate is insufficient to meet the margin of error requirement. You can use the sample size calculator to generate a reserve list by removing members of the initial sample from the sample frame and estimating the number of people you might need.

To use the sample size calculator to identify the sampling interval needed to select a reserve sample, you need to:

• remove those in the initial sample from the list of eligible service users to create a second eligible population subset
• calculate the new population size for each stratum - this is the original population size minus the original sample size. These totals should match the eligible population subset total created in the step above
• enter these into the first column of ‘Table 1: fulfilling minimum requirements by strata’ in the first tab of the sample size calculator
• calculate the expected number of service users to be replaced, for example, by looking at the numbers replaced in previous years. Add X%, where X is an inflation factor designed to ensure adequate numbers of service users are available on the reserve sample to cover those removed from the original sample
• enter the required reserve sample sizes for each stratum into the ‘Sample size’ column of ‘Table 1: fulfilling minimum requirements by strata’ in the first tab of the sample size calculator
• the ‘Selecting the sample from EP’ or ‘Selecting the sample-boost - EP’ tab will show updated random start and sampling interval results

Once the initial sample has been selected, you should check if anyone should be removed. Even if checks and exclusions have already been made, it is likely that between the eligible population extract date and the date the sample is generated, some users will no longer be suitable participants, for example those who have moved away from the area or died.

Any service user removed from the sample for the reasons listed above must be replaced with another service user from the same age group, primary support reason and support setting. For example, if a service user aged 18 to 64 in receipt of community-based services for mental health support is removed from the sample , then they must be replaced with another service user who shares these characteristics. These conditions are more specific than stratum.

Replacement users will also need to be randomly selected, either from the pre-existing reserve sample or from a new reserve sample generated using the methods described above. Any top-up sample must be drawn using systematic random sampling, drawn from the matched age group, primary support reason and service setting. If the reserve sample was drawn at the same time as the initial sample, this reserve list may be used to identify like-for-like replacements as an initial alternative to drawing top-up samples.

Service users in the top-up or reserve samples will need to be checked against the criteria listed before they can be added to the sample as a replacement. The process of removing and replacing service users will be iterative. It is also possible that the supply of service users within a category may be exhausted, making it impossible to replace them on a like-for-like basis. In this situation, service users should be matched as closely as possible in respect of age group, primary support reason and support setting, using the ranked preferences below.

The ranked preferences for replacing service users in the sample when a complete match is not possible are:

1. Different age group, same primary support reason, same support setting.
2. Same age group, different primary support reason, same support setting.
3. Same age group, same primary support reason, different support setting.
4. Different age group, different primary support reason, same support setting.
5. Different age group, same primary support reason, different support setting.
6. Same age group, different primary support reason, different support setting.
7. Different age group, different primary support reason, different support setting.

Where the preference is to replace with a different primary support reason, first choose the largest subclass within the same primary support reason. Where this is exhausted, choose the largest primary support reason.

Once these final changes have been made, you will have a list of service users who you need to send questionnaires.

Nobody can be removed from either the sample or the eligible population once you have finalised the sample and sent out the questionnaires. This includes service users that could have been removed after the sample was drawn due to the reasons listed above.

You can only change the sample after questionnaires have been sent out due to requiring a top-up sample. This is usually because response rates and overall margin of error requirement have not been met.

Extracting administrative data

You should extract and check the administrative data from your stored records. This is the data that you should include in your survey data return document, in addition to the question responses. See the ‘Survey data return: full list of data fields’ section in the ‘Submitting the data’ chapter. You can use the draft and unprotected versions of the survey data return for internal use, but the final Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS) version must be used for the submission. See more on SDCS in the ‘Submitting the data’ chapter.

Contacting care homes

After you have determined the eligible population, you must write to residential and nursing care home managers the ‘letter to inform or check capacity’. This letter:

• informs the establishment about the survey
• asks the establishment to provide information about whether any service users lack the mental capacity to consent to taking part in the survey

If your CASSR does not hold information locally to assess if the service user has capacity to consent to participate in the survey, then mental capacity checks must take place for service users in care homes and supported living arrangements. This includes shared living schemes and extra-care housing for people with dementia. This is to ensure compliance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the SCREC ethical clearance for the survey. If you have information on the capacity for a residential or nursing home service user, for example through social care assessments, then you do not need to request that information for this specific service user from their care home.

Some CASSRs have fed back that they have had a better response from care homes to capacity check letters when they have phoned to contact them before sending the letter. Note phoning care homes should not replace sending the letter, it is purely to inform the managers that they will receive the letter and what is required of them.

You can send the letter at one of 2 stages:

1. Before the initial sample is selected to request information for all council-funded or managed service users in the care home or supported living setting. This identifies individuals who lack the capacity to consent, so they are not selected in the sample. This approach can be resource intensive and may not be practical for CASSRs who have a large number of service users in these settings.
2. After the initial sample has been selected, requesting information only for those service users included in the sample.

You do not need to assess the capacity of all service users each time the survey is run. If a service user is known to have a permanent loss of capacity, they should be excluded from the sampling frame of future surveys.

If you do not receive a response to the letter, then you should assume that the service users have the capacity to consent and should be included in the sample frame if selected or retained in the sample frame.

If you receive a response and record this, you must make it clear that this is an assessment of the capacity to consent to take part in a survey, and not a medical assessment of capacity. A lack of capacity to consent may be temporary and so you should ensure that your records are kept up to date.

You should send the second letter - ‘letter to encourage response’ - a few days before sending out the questionnaires. This provides managers with:

• a list of service users who will be sent a questionnaire
• information about the survey
• information about how they and their staff can assist service users to participate

The letter also gives a commitment that the results of the survey will not be used to assess the performance of the individual care home or supported living establishment, and you must honour this commitment.

Alternative formats

You will need to ensure that the correct versions of the questionnaires are sent to participants according to whether they live in the community or in residential and nursing care homes.

In most instances the appropriate format for participants will be the standard English questionnaire.

To maximise response rates and represent the full range of service users, you must identify any people in your sample who will need access to alternative versions of the survey. You must check your records for information about a service users’ likely communication needs, and whether it is likely that a service user would be able to complete a postal questionnaire unaided. If you conclude that a service user is unable to complete the survey unaided, consider whether:

• there is someone already known to the participant who could help them complete the questionnaire
• it is necessary to arrange assistance for this service user
• the participant needs the questionnaire in an alternative format, such as the plain English or large print version
• the service user needs the questionnaire in a language other than English or the provision of an interpreter

If a service user’s record indicates that the letter and questionnaire should be sent to a carer, then you should send the letter addressed to ‘Care of’ the service user.

Unless otherwise requested, you should use the plain English version of the questionnaire:

• for those with a learning disability
• all service users in stratum 1
• any other service user who is known to have requested the plain English version in the past

The plain English version of the questionnaire does not need to be printed in colour.

It is possible that the support setting of some users will change between the date you extract the eligible population figure and when you send out the questionnaires. In this case, you should use the questionnaire which applies to their current situation. For example, if a respondent moves from a community setting into residential care, then the residential questionnaire must be issued even though the recorded support setting remains community.

You should have most of this information in your service user database.

You can find a list of the alternative formats and translations provided by DHSC in the ‘Survey materials’ section in the ‘Overview’ of this guidance.

If you have included additional questions in the questionnaire, make sure you include these in any alternative formats you send out.

Accessibility

You should have on record the information and communication needs of service users to comply with the Accessible information standard. In the case of people with disabilities and long-term health conditions, you should consider the best means to make initial contact and provide details of options for taking part. For example, you could invite people who are known to have severe visual impairments by telephone. Service users who might require assistance from a sign language interpreter could be first approached by someone known to them, such as a social worker.

In addition to the plain English and large print versions supplied by DHSC, you will have to make the questionnaire and covering letters available in any additional formats or languages that are requested by service users, including (but not limited to):

• Braille
• easy read
• audio
• an electronic version of the questionnaire to be sent and returned by email. This option is currently only open to service users who could not otherwise participate

It is your responsibility to make the materials available in other formats to service users and to support service users to respond.

In certain circumstances, you may wish to offer a telephone or face-to-face interview if service users request this. However, this should not be the standard method used to gather responses.

Non-English speakers

You should store details of the first language and communication preferences of service users in their social care records. You must arrange for translated documents locally if survey materials are required in language versions other than those we provide.

A summary on what documents to send out is below:

• where you know the service user’s first language is English - send the English version of the materials
• where you know the service user’s first language and it is not English, and the preferred language is either not known or not English - send the English version of the materials and the version in their known first language
• where you know the preferred language is English (even if the first language is not English) - send the English version of the materials and the translation request sheet
• where you do not know the service user’s first language - send the English version of the materials and the translation request sheet

In some instances, you could consider having the questionnaires administered as face-to-face interviews by interpreters. Given that response rates to postal questionnaires from ethnic minorities are traditionally low, using interpreters may enable more service users from this group to be included. You could ask family and friends to interpret where available, although we would recommend the use of professional interpreters to ensure that responses are translated accurately.

Interpreters will need to be able to speak to respondents in colloquial versions of their languages. You should monitor the work of interpreters to ensure consistency and to check that interpreters are not editing respondents’ answers before recording them. One way of doing this would be to have all translated interviews recorded and to arrange for a sample (such as 1 in 10) to be reviewed by a second interpreter as a check.

Providing assistance

Alongside making additional formats available, you will have to determine if other assistance is required, usually in response to calls to the additional help contact number included on the cover and reminder letters.

You must ensure that if a service user needs help to complete the questionnaire that the person who helps them is not involved in delivering services. This would breach confidentiality and decrease the likelihood of service users feeling able to voice criticisms of the service they receive, biasing the survey results.

We recognise that this may be difficult to implement, especially in cases where service users feel comfortable with certain staff members. We, therefore, recommend that you are proactive in offering alternative forms of help to service users to complete a questionnaire, by encouraging friends and relatives to assist them.

It is possible to administer the survey as a face-to-face or telephone interview. This may be the appropriate course of action, for example, for respondents who have disabilities or limited literacy skills. You should only offer interviews to service users who request them in response to the initial letter or reminder letter and where it is not possible to find appropriate support to enable them to complete a postal questionnaire.

Overall, the number of interviews completed should be small in relation to the size of the sample. You could also consider using advocacy services, although we only recommend doing this when the service user already has an ongoing relationship with an advocate.

Collecting the data

This chapter covers the final stages of the survey. There are several tasks for you to complete, including:

• distributing the questionnaires and covering letters to the final sample
• sending reminder letters to those who have not responded to the initial posting
• adding service users to the sample if necessary to meet the required response rate

This is also when you need to provide any assistance necessary to help service users to complete the survey - for example, offering interviews to complete the questionnaire by telephone or face-to-face.

You must also record and check all data, before submitting the completed survey data return document.

You will have to consider whether any service user’s responses indicate that their confidentiality should be breached to protect their health or safety. See the ‘Breaching confidentiality’ section below for more information on when this would be appropriate.

Doing the fieldwork

The fieldwork period, which is the period when the questionnaires are distributed and collected, should begin on 5 January 2026 and be completed by 6 March 2026.

You must send the following to each service user in your final sample:

• a questionnaire
• the covering letter
• pre-paid envelope to return the questionnaire

Three weeks after you sent the questionnaire, you should send a reminder letter to all those who have not responded, along with a second copy of the questionnaire.

You should not send this reminder to those who have already responded to the questionnaire or have contacted you to indicate that they do not wish to participate in the survey.

You must send reminder letters to all those who have not responded to the first questionnaire, even if the overall level of response is already sufficient to meet the plus or minus 5% margin of error and therefore the confidence interval requirement. This is to counter non-response bias, as the type of people who respond to the initial questionnaire may be different from those who respond once prompted by a reminder letter. Following this process is necessary to ensure consistent results between CASSRs.

You have options in how you schedule the fieldwork. Whatever option you choose, you must remember to give time for respondents to complete and return the questionnaires.

You may either:

• issue all questionnaires in one week and all reminders 3 weeks later
• develop a timetable in which questionnaires and reminders are sent out in waves, so that the workload is spread out over all the available weeks

Table 3: example timetable for sending out questionnaires and reminders in 4 waves

Week commencing:	5 Jan	12 Jan	19 Jan	26 Jan	2 Feb	9 Feb	16 Feb
Questionnaires sent out	Week 1 sample	Week 2 sample	Week 3 sample	Week 4 sample	No action	No action	No action
Initial return date (end of week)	No action	No action	For week 1 sample	For week 2 sample	For week 3 sample	For week 4 sample	No action
Reminder	No action	No action	No action	Send to week 1 sample	Send to week 2 sample	Send to week 3 sample	Send to week 4 sample

If there are insufficient responses after the reminders have been sent, then you have the option, if time allows, to draw from the reserve sample, or to generate an additional top-up sample. We recommend that you consider this possibility when planning your fieldwork schedule.

Although the fieldwork should be completed by 6 March 2026, you can decide how long to continue accepting the returned surveys after the fieldwork period has ended. This will not affect the mandated deadline. You should note how many surveys were accepted after the fieldwork period ended in the relevant question of the ‘Survey process information’ tab of your survey data return.

Interviewing respondents

You will need to customise interview scripts in the same way as the covering letters and postal questionnaires. The person conducting the interviews should be trained and experienced. You should brief the interviewers about the aims of the survey. Interviewers must understand the importance of confidentiality and ensure the participant’s confidentiality.

If an interview is held, you will need to make sure there is an active approach to establishing informed consent because of the increased level of intrusion. Before asking any questions, the interviewer must explain the purpose of the survey and stress that the carer can decide to withdraw their consent or stop the interview at any time. The interview scripts will guide the interviewer to explain this. If the interview is face-to-face, the participant must sign the consent form provided in the materials.

Transferring data onto the data return

Using the unique code, you will need to merge the questionnaire and administrative data and transfer them onto the survey data return document. You should read the ‘Instructions’ tab of the survey data return before starting this task.

You must include all those who have been sent a questionnaire (the final sample) on the data return, even if they have not completed the questionnaire. A response must be recorded for any questionnaire returned that includes answers to at least one of questions 1 to 25 (mandatory or optional) from the questionnaire documents supplied by DHSC.

Record a non-response for:

• a questionnaire that is not returned
• a questionnaire returned completely blank
• a questionnaire returned containing only answers to locally added questions and/or optional question 25 (participants’ willingness to take part in further research)

If a service user has removed their unique serial number from their returned questionnaire (for example by tearing off the corner of the questionnaire), you should still include the respondent in your data return.

You must create a new record at the bottom of the data return, and add the responses recorded. If a stratum cannot be assigned, then the response should be disregarded.

You should record the number of respondents who have removed their unique code in the ‘any other explanations’ box at the top of the ‘Validation tables’ tab.

You should still be able to assign a stratum and answer some of the mandatory fields for these respondents by checking which questionnaire was used or whether a translated version was used. You could look at responses, including free text boxes, for any information that provides insight as to the age of the respondent. This will enable the responses to be included in a stratum and in as much of the summary analysis as possible.

There may be instances in which a respondent has answered a questionnaire in a contradictory manner. If 2 or more boxes are ticked for a question in which only one box should be ticked, then you must record the response as ‘unknown’ (the service users data code is −9).

For all other cases, you must record the response as stated by the service user. For example, if a respondent has chosen conflicting answers for a question that asks them to ‘tick as many boxes as apply’, then you must record all the boxes as ticked by the service user.

You should record whether the original or reminder version of the questionnaire was used. If the questionnaire was completed on the original version but after the reminder letter and second copy of the questionnaire was sent out, then the respondent should still be coded as replying to the original version. If the service user returns both the original and reminder version of the questionnaire, you should review which questionnaire is most complete and use this data in the data return. If the completion is the same for both questionnaires, then you should use the reminder survey.

Breaching confidentiality

You may find that service users have given responses suggesting that their health or safety is at risk. It is at your discretion to decide what should trigger a breach of the confidentiality clause. However, it is acceptable to do so in circumstances where:

• the respondent indicates that their health and safety is at risk in response to question 7a, in any other survey question or through free text comments
• the responses of the individual indicate that they are experiencing a serious issue with their care
• the respondent uses the questionnaire to make a comment about their care, and the comment shows a clear expectation that this will be followed up by the CASSR

While the most negative response to question 7a would clearly indicate a threat to safety, you might also consider that a combination of answers to other questions might constitute grounds for contacting the survey participant.

You must make contact with the respondent in the first instance to check whether they are happy for their comments to be passed on to an appropriate member of staff for consideration. Initial contact should not be made by a social worker or the person’s care worker. Once you have consent, follow local protocols for dealing with the issues raised.

Checking the data

The data return must be checked prior to submission. You must make sure that:

• all survey data is included
• worksheets have not been corrupted by the addition or removal of columns
• there are no blank rows in the main data worksheet
• all data correctly represents administrative records and questionnaires as appropriate

You must not delete unused columns (such as to voluntary fields and optional questions that you have chosen not to record) as it will corrupt the data return.

The survey data return contains features to help quality assure the data before submission. Conditional formatting has been applied to the cells in the ‘Service user data’ tab to show where data is missing or may not be correct. The rules for these formats are detailed on the ‘Service user data - formats’ tab.

You should also review the ‘Validation tables’ tab which displays the results of aggregate checks on data input on the ‘Service user data’ tab. If a check yields a query for you to investigate - for example, if data is missing or if a result falls outside its expected range - then the appropriate cell is shaded red until an explanation is given.

You must not delete or override these validations. This can happen accidentally when copying and pasting data from other tabs.

Once you have submitted the data, we will send you a validation report.

Submitting data

We will collect the data using the Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS), which is a secure system. See the SDCS website for details of how to register for the service.

Once you have registered with SDCS, we will send you instructions on the submission procedure.

You must submit your completed survey data return document through SDCS by 6 May 2026.

We will check the validity of data returns that have been completed and submitted and will provide feedback in the form of a data quality report. You will then be given the opportunity to review the report and resubmit data if necessary.

If your data contains significant data quality issues after the resubmission deadline, it is likely that you will be named in the data quality section of the final DHSC report. This is to ensure that anyone using the data is aware of any potential anomalies.

If you fail to submit by the first mandated deadline (6 May 2026) then this will also be included in the data quality section of the final DHSC report to ensure that anyone using the data is aware that the data has not been validated.

As part of your data submission, we also welcome comments on the survey process, for example:

• thoughts on how it might be improved
• suggestions of practice to share with others
• other questions that could be collected nationally

We ask that you communicate your views in the data return via the final comments box in the ‘Survey process information’ tab of the survey data return.

Survey data return: full list of data fields

This section lists all the data fields included in the ASCS survey data return document. This is the information that will be collated nationally. The survey data return contains further guidance.

If you choose to add additional data collected locally to the survey data return document, this must be removed before submission through SDCS. While these will not be returned, they might assist in local analyses. You are advised to record the service user’s address and contact details and whether the service user has requested an interview. This information should help facilitate the smooth running of the survey.

Any completely blank lines, for example, service users initially selected but subsequently removed from the sample before the questionnaires were distributed for the reasons listed in the ‘Sample frame’ section, must also be removed.

It does not matter if record numbers are no longer consecutive so long as you know who each submitted record refers to in case we have any queries.

Lines for non-respondents should not be removed. The items highlighted in yellow (mandatory fields) should be completed for non-respondents as well as for respondents. This will enable response bias to be assessed.

The data submitted in the survey data return document must be correct as of the date the eligible population is extracted. If any information relating to a service user has changed since the extract date it must not be updated.

This data should be recorded in a dedicated survey database or spreadsheet along with a unique serial number that you allocate to each service user. You may wish to include other pieces of information in the code, for example local area or team codes.

Service user data

In addition to fields for question response data, the ‘Service user data’ tab in the data return document includes fields relating to:

• running the survey
• data about the questionnaire recipients
• administrative data

Age, gender and ethnicity can be added to the questionnaire if you cannot obtain it from your records. However, sexual orientation and religion must not be added to the questionnaire under any circumstance.

The ‘Service user data’ tab in the survey data return document collects the following for everyone in the sample:

• administrative data for the survey, including the CASSR (or LA) code, serial number, primary key, stratum and population in stratum (except for unique code, this data is automatically generated)
• method of collection
• whether the service user has responded or not
• gender of service user
• age of service user
• ethnicity of service user - additional guidance on the unknown ethnic group codes is provided in the ‘Service user data - codes’ tab of the survey data return document
• sexual orientation of service user - this field must not be added to the questionnaire under any circumstance
• religion of service user - this field must not be added to the questionnaire under any circumstance
• primary support reason of service user
• support setting of the service user
• mechanism of delivery of services - if a service user has mixed mechanism of deliveries provided, we advise the hierarchy previously used in SALT is used to assign the mechanism of delivery for the ASCS:
  • direct payment only
  • part direct payment
  • CASSR managed personal budget
  • CASSR commissioned services only
• reported health condition (RHC) of the service user - this data should be recorded as it appears in council records
• whether an advocate has been used
• whether they need an interpreter
• which language was used
• which version of the questionnaire was used (community, care home or plain English)
• whether the service user is a replacement for someone who has been excluded for any reason
• whether the service user responded to the original mailing or a reminder

Questions

1. Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the care and support services you receive?

2a. Thinking about the good and bad things that make up your quality of life, how would you rate the quality of your life as a whole?

2b. Do care and support services help you to have a better quality of life?

2c. Which of the following statements best describes how much choice you have over care and support services you receive? (community questionnaires only)

3a. Which of the following statements best describes how much control you have over your daily life?

3b. Do care and support services help you in having control over your daily life?

4a. Thinking about keeping clean and presentable in appearance, which of the following statements best describes your situation?

4b. Do care and support services help you in keeping clean and presentable in appearance? (optional - responses to this question should not be submitted in the survey data return)

5a. Thinking about the food and drink you get, which of the following statements best describes your situation?

5b. Do care and support services help you to get food and drink? (optional - responses to this question should not be submitted in the survey data return)

6a. Which of the following statements best describes how clean and comfortable your home is?

6b. Do care and support services help you in keeping your home clean and comfortable? (optional - responses to this question should not be submitted in the survey data return)

7a. Which of the following statements best describes how safe you feel?

7b. If you have said you don’t feel safe, can you please tell us why? (optional - responses to this question should not be submitted in the survey data return)

7c. Do care and support services help you in feeling safe?

8a. Thinking about how much contact you’ve had with people you like, which of the following statements best describes your social situation?

8b. Do care and support services help you in having social contact with people? (optional - responses to this question should not be submitted in the survey data return)

9a. Which of the following statements best describes how you spend your time?

9b. Do care and support services help you in the way you spend your time? (optional - responses to this question should not be submitted in the survey data return)

10. Which of these statements best describes how having help to do things makes you think and feel about yourself?

11. Which of these statements best describes how the way you are helped and treated makes you think and feel about yourself?

12. How often do you feel lonely?

13. In the past year, have you generally found it easy or difficult to find information and advice about support, services or benefits?

14. How is your health in general?

15. By placing a tick in one box in each group below, please indicate which statements best describe your health state today.

16. Please place a tick in the box that best describes your abilities for each of the following questions.

17. Please place a tick in the box that best describes your abilities for each of the following questions.

18. How well do you think your home is designed to meet your needs?

19. Thinking about getting around outside of your home, which of the following statements best describes your present situation?

20. Do you receive any practical help on a regular basis from your husband or wife, partner, friends, neighbours or family members?

21. Do you buy any additional care or support privately or pay more to ‘top up’ your care and support?

22. Did you have any help from someone else to complete this questionnaire?

23. What type of help did you have?

24.Please use the space provided below to describe any other experiences you would like to tell us about, or to write any other comments you would like to make (optional - responses to this question should not be submitted in the survey data return)

25.Would you be happy to be invited to take part in more research? (optional - responses to this question should not be submitted in the survey data return)

Eligible population

The ‘Eligible population’ tab collects data on:

• the eligible population broken down by age group, gender, primary support reason and support setting
• the number of service users excluded from the sample

At a basic level these items of information are required to calculate confidence intervals for the data and assess response rates. It is very important that you complete this accurately to ensure weights and overall estimates are calculated correctly.

Validation comments

The ‘Validation tables’ tab has been included in the data return to help validate the data within the ‘Service user data’ tab. This also provides a series of comment boxes to complete should the return have missing data. This is where you should record explanations for any boxes left blank. This information is required to remove unnecessary validation queries from DHSC.

Survey process information

The ‘Survey process information’ tab asks about the survey process and methodology, for example, the minimum requirement for responses and the use of additional questions. There is also a space to make general comments about the survey.

This information is used by DHSC to understand how you have experienced the completion of the survey and to inform future development. 

Timetable

Before 31 December 2025

Before sending out the questionnaires, you must:

• inform and engage senior management and obtain permission to send out questionnaires to service users
• finalise questionnaires and materials
• extract the eligible population data including auxiliary information
• check eligible population data is complete, accurate and current
• remove from the eligible population figure those service users known to have been incorrectly included due to records being out of date
• determine the required sample size
• select the primary sample
• select the reserve sample (if you wish at this point)
• contact care homes
• determine which questionnaire to send to each service user
• identify those service users who should not be sent a questionnaire

28 November 2025

The deadline for any additional question requests is 28 November 2025.

Between 5 January and 6 March 2026

During the fieldwork period (5 January to 6 March 2026), you must:

• send the questionnaires to service users
• follow up with any non-respondents
• select the top-up sample to compensate for low responses if necessary (if a reserve sample has not already been determined)
• send questionnaires to the top-up sample if necessary

6 May 2026

The submission deadline for all ASCS survey data returns through SDCS is 6 May 2026.

21 May 2026

The deadline for survey data quality reports to be sent to local authorities is 21 May 2026.

10 June 2026

The final submission deadline is 10 June 2026.

Further information sources

The ASCS methodology was reviewed in 2010 to 2011 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). More information can be found in their report Review of methodology for the national adult social care user experience survey (archived PDF, 436 KB).

There are also a number of ways in which CASSRs can learn from each other, and from other organisations, in relation to completion of user surveys:

• the CASSR members of the Social Services User Survey Group (SSUSG) are able to facilitate the sharing of knowledge about the surveys and often have links to regional Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) branches
• linking with colleagues in other CASSRs, particularly those where survey results and ASCOF outcomes differ

Social Services User Survey Group (SSUSG)

The ASCS questionnaire, methodology and guidance has been designed in consultation with SSUSG. SSUSG advises on social services user experience surveys, and the development of their content and methodology.

The group includes:

• DHSC
• NHS England statisticians
• council representatives
• Care Quality Commission (CQC)
• researchers from the Care and Outcomes Research Centre (COReC), previously PSSRU, based at the University of Kent

The survey has been approved by ADASS.