VCSE Commissioning Analytics Series — Article 2 of 18 | Adult Social Care Series 1 — Article 2 of 4

How ASCOF Works and Why It Matters for Commissioned VCSEs | Adult Social Care Series 1 — Article 2 of 4

The Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) is the national measurement framework that defines how outcomes for adults receiving social care are measured, reported, and compared across England. ASCOF drives the data that local authorities submit to the Department of Health and Social Care and that the Care Quality Commission uses as evidence in local authority assessments. For VCSE organisations and charities delivering local authority-commissioned adult social care, ASCOF is not an abstract policy framework — it is the direct ancestor of the reporting requirements appearing in contract schedules, commissioning conversations, and performance reviews.

Understanding which ASCOF metrics your service touches, and what data you need to generate outcomes evidence against those metrics, is now a practical commissioning requirement for any VCSE holding an adult social care contract.

ASCOF is structured around outcomes domains rather than service inputs or activity volumes. The framework asks not what services were delivered, but whether those services made a difference to people’s lives. The core domains are: enhancing quality of life for people with care and support needs; delaying and reducing the need for care and support; ensuring that people have a positive experience of care and support; and safeguarding adults whose circumstances make them vulnerable.

Local authorities are assessed by CQC against their performance across these domains. CQC completed its two-year baselining period for local authority assessments in April 2026 and is now in a reassessment phase, meaning performance data from the 2025 to 2026 reporting cycle directly affects local authority ratings. The data feeding those ratings flows partly from commissioned service providers — including VCSEs.

The ASCOF Metrics Most Relevant to VCSE-Delivered Services

Not all ASCOF metrics apply equally to all VCSEs. The metrics most commonly applicable to VCSE-delivered services include the following.

Social care-related quality of life (ASCOF metric 1A) is derived from the Adult Social Care Survey and measures the overall quality of life of people receiving local authority-funded social care across eight domains: control over daily life, personal care and comfort, food and nutrition, accommodation, safety, social participation, dignity, and occupation. VCSEs delivering any service that affects these dimensions — which includes most community social care — contribute to this metric.

Carers receiving support or self-assessed as able to continue caring (ASCOF 1C and 1D) directly relates to any VCSE delivering carers services. These metrics measure whether carers feel their needs are being met and whether they have the resilience to continue in their caring role.

Proportion of people using social care who feel safe (ASCOF 4A) relates to safeguarding and risk management. VCSEs working with vulnerable adults, including those delivering supported living, domestic abuse services, or mental health community services, contribute to this metric.

Long-term admissions to residential care homes and nursing homes for people aged 65 and over per 100,000 population (ASCOF 2A) is particularly relevant to VCSEs delivering intermediate care, step-down support, or intensive community support to older adults. Demonstrating that VCSE-delivered community support delays or prevents residential care admission is a high-value contribution that commissioners and CQC both want to see evidenced.

What Data VCSEs Need to Collect to Support ASCOF Reporting

To contribute meaningfully to local authority ASCOF returns, VCSEs need to collect data at three levels. Individual service user level data — recording referral date, start date, service type, assessed needs, outcome at closure, and whether the person stepped up to higher-level statutory care or maintained independence. Validated outcome measure data — using tools that are either directly ASCOF-aligned such as the ASCOT tool for quality of life, or WEMWBS for wellbeing, or mapped to ASCOF domains through an agreed conversion methodology. And equity and protected characteristics data — recording age, sex, ethnicity, disability status, and postcode for every service user, enabling local authorities to produce the demographic breakdowns that underpin ASCOF equity analysis.

Most VCSE organisations hold some of this data already. The gap is typically in completeness, structure, and the ability to aggregate and present it in a format that feeds directly into commissioner reporting. This is the problem Quematics solves — connecting existing VCSE data systems to Power BI dashboards that produce ASCOF-aligned outputs automatically.

The Link Between ASCOF and VCSE Contract Performance Reviews

When a local authority commissioner conducts a VCSE contract performance review, the questions they ask are increasingly structured around ASCOF-adjacent evidence. Can you show us the quality of life change for the people you supported? Can you demonstrate that your service contributed to people maintaining their independence? Can you evidence the demographic profile of who you reached and whether outcomes were equitable across population groups?

VCSEs that can answer these questions with structured, automated data are in a fundamentally stronger contract renewal position than those who rely on case studies and activity logs alone. This is the competitive difference that VCSE commissioning analytics infrastructure makes in adult social care commissioning in 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF)?

ASCOF is England’s national framework for measuring outcomes in adult social care. It is used by DHSC and CQC to assess how well local authorities are delivering care and support. For VCSEs, ASCOF defines the evidence standard their data needs to meet to contribute to local authority performance reporting.

Which ASCOF metrics are most relevant to VCSE organisations?

The most relevant ASCOF metrics for VCSEs are quality of life (1A), carers support and resilience (1C and 1D), feelings of safety (4A), and long-term care admissions for older adults (2A). The exact subset depends on the type of service a VCSE delivers.

Do VCSEs submit data to ASCOF directly?

No — ASCOF data is submitted by local authorities through DHSC’s Strategic Data Collection Service. VCSEs contribute to local authority ASCOF submissions by providing individual service user-level data and outcome measure results to their commissioner in an agreed format.

What outcome tools are compatible with ASCOF for VCSE reporting?

Tools that align well with ASCOF domains include the ASCOT for quality of life, WEMWBS for wellbeing, EQ-5D for health-related quality of life, and the Outcomes Star suite for multiple life domains. Local authorities may specify a preferred tool in the contract schedule.

How can Power BI help VCSEs produce ASCOF-aligned reports?

Power BI connects to VCSE case management systems such as Charitylog, Lamplight, and Excel-based trackers, and applies ASCOF metric definitions to produce automated reports at the frequency and format local authority commissioners require — without additional data entry by frontline staff.

To discuss how Quematics can build ASCOF-aligned reporting infrastructure for your VCSE, visit our data analytics for charities page or contact us for a free 30-minute data review.