Writing and Evidencing Person-Centred Goals in Social Care

September 13, 2025

One of the clearest signs of quality in social care is how well a provider can demonstrate person-centred outcomes. Inspectors, commissioners, and families alike want reassurance that support is not just about “delivering care tasks” but about helping people achieve what matters to them. In practice, this is done by setting and evidencing person-centred goals.

Yet, too often, goals in care plans are generic: “maintain independence,” “stay healthy,” or “improve wellbeing.” These phrases sound positive but don’t tell the individual’s story — and they make it hard to evidence impact. For CQC inspections, this can leave your service looking weak. For tenders, it can mean losing vital marks on quality questions where commissioners want proof of outcomes.

By contrast, well-written goals provide a golden thread linking assessments, care planning, delivery, and outcomes. They show inspectors how you embed personalisation. They show commissioners how you achieve measurable results. And they show families and people supported that you understand and value their aspirations.

🎯 Why Person-Centred Goals Matter in Tenders

When writing tenders, commissioners in areas like learning disability services, domiciliary care, or home care want to see evidence that support is not just process-driven, but outcome-focused. Saying “we promote independence” will not score highly unless you can back it up with clear examples of real goals and outcomes.

For example, compare these two tender responses:

Poor: “We encourage service users to maintain independence.”
High-scoring: “We supported Michael to achieve his personal goal of walking his daughter down the aisle, through structured physiotherapy sessions and confidence-building stair practice. This not only maintained independence but created a meaningful life event that mattered deeply to him.”

The second response tells a story, demonstrates practice, and evidences outcomes. It gives commissioners confidence that your service consistently achieves what matters to people. This is exactly the type of answer that helps you secure contracts.

📌 What Makes a Goal Person-Centred?

Not every goal written in a care plan is truly person-centred. To check, ask: would this goal make sense to someone who knows the individual well?

Specific to the person’s interests or priorities — e.g. “Attend Friday gardening group independently.”
Reflects their voice — e.g. “I want to start volunteering at the animal shelter again.”
Realistic and measurable — small steps are okay if they are meaningful.

Generic goals like “maintain function” or “improve wellbeing” could apply to anyone. They don’t reflect the person’s voice or tell inspectors what’s important to them. A person-centred goal, by contrast, is individual, meaningful, and trackable.

📝 Examples of Person-Centred Goals

Here are some examples that demonstrate person-centred outcomes:

“Michael wants to walk his daughter down the aisle next spring. Weekly physio and stair practice planned.”
“Fatima would like to return to mosque independently. Travel confidence building sessions scheduled.”
“Leo wants to resume painting. Support worker to help organise materials and structure weekly sessions.”

Notice how each of these examples reflects a real aspiration — not a service output. They highlight what is meaningful to the individual, not just what the service provides. This is exactly what CQC inspectors mean by “Making Safeguarding Personal” and what commissioners want to see in tender responses.

📚 How to Record Progress Against Goals

Setting goals is only half the challenge — recording progress in a way that demonstrates outcomes is equally important. Inspectors and commissioners expect to see evidence that goals drive support and are tracked over time. Best practice includes:

Link daily notes back to goals — e.g. “Today, Leo completed a painting session and asked to display his work in the lounge.”
Show involvement — use language that highlights the person’s own decisions and achievements rather than staff activity alone.
Update dynamically — goals should be reviewed and updated when achieved, changed, or no longer relevant — not just during annual reviews.

This creates the golden thread inspectors look for: from assessment, to planning, to delivery, to outcome. It also strengthens your tenders, giving you real-world examples that show how your service delivers measurable results.

🚫 Common Mistakes in Goal Setting

Even experienced services sometimes weaken their practice by making avoidable mistakes. These include:

Overwriting goals: Goals should be in the person’s voice wherever possible, not rewritten into jargon by staff.
Using vague language: Phrases like “maintain function” or “improve wellbeing” don’t provide measurable evidence.
Repeating tasks in reviews: Reviews should focus on whether goals were achieved, not just list activities carried out.

Avoiding these mistakes helps you demonstrate that goals are personal, dynamic, and meaningful — strengthening both your CQC evidence and your tender responses.

🔎 What Inspectors Look For

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) wants to see evidence that goals are central to planning and delivery. Key things inspectors look for include:

Are goals recorded in the person’s own words?
Do goals reflect the individual’s aspirations, culture, or community connections?
Is there evidence that support tasks link directly to goals?
Do reviews consider whether goals were achieved, adapted, or replaced?
Can staff explain how their daily work contributes to a person’s goals?

When these elements are present, inspectors see not just compliance but excellence in person-centred practice. When absent, they often highlight “lack of outcomes” as an area for improvement.

📖 Linking Care Planning and Tender Writing

Strong care planning makes strong tender writing easier. When you have a culture of recording clear, person-centred goals, you naturally build up evidence you can draw on in tenders. For example:

“Through weekly travel training, Fatima achieved her goal of returning to mosque independently, reconnecting with her faith community. This outcome demonstrates our commitment to meaningful independence and inclusion.”

By combining practical resources with strong recording practices, you ensure your service is both CQC-ready and tender-ready.

✨ Final Thoughts

🎯 Recording goals is essential — but not all goals are truly personal. Too often, care plans include vague or generic outcomes like “maintain independence” or “improve wellbeing,” which are difficult to evidence and don’t tell the person’s story.

📌 What Makes a Goal Person-Centred?

Specific to the person’s interests or priorities — e.g. “Attend Friday gardening group independently.”
Reflects their voice — e.g. “I want to start volunteering at the animal shelter again.”
Realistic and measurable — small steps are okay if they are meaningful.

📝 Examples of Person-Centred Goals

“Michael wants to walk his daughter down the aisle next spring. Weekly physio and stair practice planned.”
“Fatima would like to return to mosque independently. Travel confidence building sessions scheduled.”
“Leo wants to resume painting. Support worker to help organise materials and structure weekly sessions.”

📚 How to Record Progress Against Goals

Link support tasks and daily notes directly back to the person’s goals.
Use language that shows the person’s involvement, decisions, and achievements.
Update goals when they’re achieved, changed, or need review — not just annually.

🚫 Common Mistakes

Overwriting goals: Goals should be in the person’s voice where possible, not rewritten by staff.
Using vague language: “Improve wellbeing” or “maintain function” say little about the person.
Ignoring goals in reviews: Reviews should focus on whether goals were achieved — not just repeat tasks completed.

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Updated for Procurement Act 2023 • CQC-aligned • BASE-aligned (where relevant)