Adult social care providers should be aware of the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag (RADF), a national standard designed to help health and care organisations identify, record and share information about the reasonable adjustments disabled people may need when accessing services. The original deadline of 30 September 2026 has been amended to 31 October 2027 to comply with the requirements of the standard..

While the Care Quality Commission does not currently refer specifically to RADF in its regulations, the RADF requirements align closely with CQC expectations around person-centred care, equality, accessibility, communication needs and reasonable adjustments.

Providers should use this opportunity to review how they:

• Identify people who require reasonable adjustments
• Record and review those needs
• Ensure information is visible to staff
• Share relevant information with health and care partners
• Train staff to understand and act on reasonable adjustments

Most providers will already have elements of this in place through compliance with existing care planning processes.

A detailed briefing is attached, setting out what the standard requires, its relationship to CQC expectations, and practical actions providers should take ahead of the implementation deadline.