This week we started using our new assessment approach across our South region. This is part of a staged rollout and over the next few months we'll start using our new assessment approach in other parts of the country.
What can providers do to prepare  When we roll out our new assessment approach in your area, the relationship you have with our teams will change. We've published a new update to describe how relationships will work.  Today, following government approval, we've published ourupdated guidancefor assessing local authorities. The guidance will support local authorities to understand how we will assess them.We have also published theinformation return contentto help local authorities understand what we will request when we start an assessment. Wewill be starting to issue the first notifications and information returns to local authorities during next week.For more information, please click on the link below.  We've published two new pieces of guidance to help providers prepare for our new assessment approach. Overview of our assessment process We've published a quick guide to give an overview of how assessments will work under our new approach. We want this guide to help illustrate the different parts of our assessment approach and what each will feel for providers. The level at which we will rate This guidance describes the levels will publish ratings for and how that differs for specific types of services. The guidance also describes how we'll aggregate ratings across different levels.  As we roll out our assessment approach we will ask providers for feedback and use it to update and develop our guidance. Share your feedback on our two new pieces of guidance.  We now have aWhatsApp channelwhere we will be sharing the latest updates on our new regulatory approach. Please note that as WhatsApp Channels may not be available to all users yet we won't be posting content that hasn't already been shared by other means.  | 
