Guidance

Annex A: collections and data flows

Published 20 December 2023

Applies to England

Annex A provides a detailed list of all national data flows and collections that currently exist. These are broken down into 2 categories:

• national collections which were set up specifically for adult social care sector needs
• wider national collections which serve a wider purpose but can be used to fulfil adult social care sector needs

A majority of these collections are published, at various levels of aggregation. Published collections are flagged in the tables below (as ‘Yes’ in the ‘Published?’ column). The tables use acronyms for the following bodies and organisations:

• Care Quality Commission (CQC)
• Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
• Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• Local Government Ombudsman (LGO)
• North of England Commissioning Support Unit (NECS)
• NHS Test and Trace (NHS T&T)
• Office for National Statistics (ONS)
• United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

National data collections specific to adult social care

Table 1: List of national data collections specific to adult social care

Collection name	Published?	Who the information is about	Who provides the data	Organisation collecting the data	Organisation holding the data
Complaints and information of concern	No	Providers	People who draw on care or unpaid carers	CQC (executive public body)	CQC (executive public body)
CQC Care Directory Ratings	Yes	Providers	CQC	CQC (executive public body)	CQC (executive public body)
CQC changes, events and incidents notification	Yes	People who draw on care	Providers	CQC (executive public body)	CQC (executive public body)
CQC Market Oversight	No	Providers	Providers	CQC (executive public body)	CQC (executive public body)
CQC Provider Information Return	No	Providers	Providers	CQC (executive public body)	CQC (executive public body)
Give feedback on care	No	Providers	People who draw on care or unpaid carers	CQC (executive public body)	CQC (executive public body)
Safeguarding alerts and concerns	No	Providers	People who draw on care or unpaid carers	CQC (executive public body)	CQC (executive public body)
Improved Better Care Fund quarterly reporting	Yes	Local authority	Local authority	DLUHC (government department)	DLUHC (government department)
Adult social care complaint reviews	Yes	Local authority and providers	People who draw on care	LGO (public funded body)	LGO (public funded body)
NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care data	Yes	People who draw on care	Providers	Care Providers	NHS England
Adult Social Care Finance Return	Yes	Local authority	Local authority	NHS England	NHS England
Adult Social Care Survey	Yes	People who draw on care	People who draw on care	Local authority	NHS England
Deferred Payment Agreements return	Yes	People who draw on care	Local authority	Local authority	NHS England
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards	Yes	People who draw on care	Local authority	Local authority	NHS England
Guardianship under the Mental Health Act	Yes	People who draw on care	Local authority	NHS England	NHS England
Safeguarding Adults collection	Yes	People who draw on care	Local authority	Local authority	NHS England
Short and Long Term Support	Yes	People who draw on care	Local authority	Local authority	NHS England
Survey of Adult Carers in England	Yes	Carers and people who draw on care	Carers	Local authority	NHS England
Capacity Tracker	Yes	Providers	Providers	NECS (executive public body)	NHS England and DHSC (government department)
Delayed Transfers of Care	Yes	People who draw on care	NHS Funded Services	NHS funded services	NHS England
ASC Workforce Data Set	Yes	Providers	Providers	Skills for Care (public funded body)	Skills for Care (public funded body)

Wider national data collections

Table 2: List of wider national data collections

Collection name	Published?	Who the information is about	Who provides the data	Organisation collecting the data	Organisation holding the data
Community mental health survey	Yes	People who draw on care	People who draw on care	CQC (executive public body)	CQC (executive public body)
Community Life Survey	Yes	People who draw on care	People who draw on care	DCMS (government department)	DCMS (government department)
PPE e-Portal	Yes	Providers	Providers	NHS Supply Chain	DHSC (government department)
English Housing Survey	Yes	People who draw on care	People who draw on care	DLUHC (government department)	DLUHC (government department)
Revenue account collection: local authority revenue expenditure and financing	Yes	Local authority	Local authority	DLUHC (government department)	DLUHC (government department)
Family Resources Survey	Yes	Carers and social care workforce	Carers	DWP (government department)	DWP (government department)
Personal Independence Payment	Yes	People who draw on care	People who draw on care	DWP (government department)	DWP (government department)
Disabled Facilities Grant	No	People who draw on care	Local authority	Local authority	Local authority
Assuring Transformation Data Set	Yes	People who draw on care	Commissioners	NHS England	NHS England
Commissioning Data Sets	No	People who draw on care	NHS Funded Services	NHS England	NHS England
Community Services Data Set	Yes	People who draw on care	Providers	NHS England	NHS England
Dementia Assessment and Referral	Yes	People who draw on care	NHS Funded Services	NHS England	NHS England
Health and care of people with learning disabilities	Yes	People who draw on care	GP Practice	GP Practice (NHS)	NHS England
Health survey for England	Yes	People who draw on care	People who draw on care	NHS England	NHS England
Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Data Set	No	People who draw on care	NHS Funded Services	NHS funded services	NHS England
Learning Disabilities Health Check Scheme	Yes	People who draw on care	GP Practice	GP Practice (NHS)	NHS England
Mental Health Services Data Set	No	People who draw on care	Providers	Care Providers	NHS England
Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment	Yes	Providers	People who draw on care	NHS England	NHS England
Recorded Dementia Diagnoses from General Practice Extraction Service	Yes	People who draw on care	NA, GPs collect anyway	GP Practice (NHS)	NHS England
Registers of People who are Blind or Partially Sighted	Yes	People who draw on care	Local authority	Local authority	NHS England
Annual Population Survey	Yes	Social care workforce	Individuals	ONS (government body)	ONS (government body)
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings	Yes	Social care workforce	Providers	ONS (government body)	ONS (government body)
Census	Yes	Carers and people who draw on care and social care workforce	Carers	ONS (government body)	ONS (government body)
Labour force survey	Yes	Carers, Social care workforce	Carers	ONS (government body)	ONS (government body)
ONS Business Register and Employment Survey	Yes	Social care workforce	Providers	ONS (government body)	ONS (government body)
Opinions and Lifestyle Survey	Yes	Carers	Individuals	ONS (government body)	ONS (government body)
Vacancy Survey (job vacancies)	Yes	Social care workforce	Providers	ONS (government body)	ONS (government body)
Care home resident death registrations	Yes	People who draw on care	Providers	General Register Office (government body)	ONS and General Register Office (government body)
Adzuna	Yes	Social care workforce	Providers	Adzuna (Private organisation)	ONS (government body) and Adzuna (Private organisation)
English Longitudinal Study of Ageing	Yes	People who draw on care	People who draw on care	NatCen Social Research (Research organisation)	UK Data Service (public funded body)
UK Household Longitudinal Study - Understanding Society	Yes	Carers	Carers	University of Essex (Research organisation)	UK Data Service (public funded body)
National Pathology Exchange (T&T data)	Yes	People who draw on care	NHS Funded Services	NHS T&T	UKHSA (government body)

How the data flows

These infographics represent examples of national adult social care data flows and the various organisations involved in collecting and holding data. These data flows generate from the subjects of the data (such as providers, local authorities, unpaid carers and people who draw on care and support), to the organisations that hold the data.

The infographics demonstrate data flows for:

• data collected through national collections that are set up specifically for adult social care needs
• data collected through wider national collections that serve a wider purpose but can be used to fulfil adult social care needs

Figure 1: data flows from the subject of the data to the organisation holding the data, captured via collections specific to adult social care

Figure 2: data flows from the subject of the data to the organisation holding the data, captured via wider collections