ASCOF: Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework for England

The Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) is published annually by NHS Digital, with data drawn from multiple collections since 2010-11. It measures the performance of the adult social care system across four domains, including quality of life and experience of care. The framework is used locally and nationally to set priorities, measure progress, and strengthen transparency.

Use Cases

• Benchmarking local council performance based on nationally comparable outcome measures mentioned in the description
• Analyzing trends in quality of life for people with care needs based on the framework's domains
• Evaluating the effectiveness of policies aimed at delaying or reducing the need for care and support
• Assessing public experience and safeguarding outcomes within the adult social care system

Strengths

• Published annually since 2010-11, providing a longitudinal view
• Data is drawn from multiple collections, likely offering a multi-faceted perspective
• Framework is used nationally and locally, suggesting established relevance

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download

Provenance

Source

NHS Digital

Collection Method

Draws on data from a number of collections, as per the ASCOF Handbook of Definitions published by the Department of Health.

Time Range

Annual data since 2010-11

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:32:53.732678

Geography

England