Appendix 1: summary of MODS requirements for care providers and software suppliers
This appendix summarises the Adult Social Care Record Minimum Operational Data Standard Requirements Specification. It explains what care providers and software suppliers need to do to meet the standard.
What the standard is about
The standard sets out what information should be recorded in digital adult social care records, and how systems should support this. It is not a new national data return and does not require providers to submit or publish data. Its purpose is to make adult social care records more consistent across England, improve data quality and support safer information sharing between social care and health services.
The requirements apply to CQC-registered adult social care providers in England and to the Digital Social Care Record system suppliers they use. NHS England Digital Social Care Record Assured Solution Suppliers must implement the standard as part of their contract with NHS England.
Minimum data
MODS sets out a minimum baseline for direct care data in digital social care records. It is not just a list of extra questions for care staff; it is a standard way of structuring and labelling information so it can be recorded consistently and shared more safely between care systems.
MODS should be read alongside the MODS data dictionary, conceptual model and implementation guidance. In provider-facing terms, suppliers need to support structured recording across areas such as:
- Administrative information: core details about the person, such as identity, demographics, contact details and key contacts.
- Assessment and planning: information about needs, risks, care and support plans, preferences, outcomes and routines.
- Observations: recorded observations about the person’s health, wellbeing, daily presentation or changes in condition, including who recorded the information.
- Instructions, activities and actions: planned and completed care activities, actions, instructions, appointments, interventions and medicines-related records where relevant to the system.
- Consent and legal information: information about consent, capacity, legal representatives, advance decisions and other legal or safeguarding-related records where applicable.
- Care actors: people and organisations involved in the person’s care and support, including care staff, professionals, unpaid carers and partner organisations.
- Audit and provenance information: information about when a record was created or changed, who made the change, and the source or status of the information.
Providers should not assume every example will look the same in every system. The practical question for suppliers is whether the DSCR structurally supports the MODS data classes, definitions and required fields, and how any changes will affect day-to-day recording by care teams.
Care provider requirements
Mandatory requirements
Care providers must:
- read the requirements specification, implementation guidance and related resources.
- review whether their current system is compatible with the standard and identify any changes needed to current practice or systems.
- make sure their adult social care IT system can record the information included in the Adult Social Care Conceptual Data Model and Minimum Operational Data Standard, in line with the data dictionary.
- make sure each record entry can include provenance information, including the performer, author, date and location.
- make sure the system has a viewable audit trail showing what was recorded, including times, dates and authors.
Expected unless there is a legitimate reason not to
Care providers should:
- ensure their system supplier keeps up with regular terminology updates published by NHS England for this standard.
- make sure they are told about any supplier changes that affect how information is recorded, such as user interface changes, and provide appropriate support to staff.
Software supplier requirements
Mandatory requirements
Software suppliers must:
- make sure providers can record the data items specified in the Adult Social Care Conceptual Data Model and ASC MODS Data Dictionary.
- support an information governance and privacy model that meets local and national requirements.
- record and show where information has come from, including the performer, date, time and location for each activity carried out by a professional, person or device.
- validate mandatory items at the point of data entry, so users cannot leave required information blank.
- display sensitive personal information, including protected characteristics information, in a way that does not accidentally reveal protected information.
- keep terminology products and controlled vocabularies up to date where the system uses them.
- provide a viewable audit trail showing information recorded, including times, dates and authors.
- make it easy to distinguish data recorded using a connected device from data entered manually, including data transcribed from a device.
Expected unless there is a legitimate reason not to
Software suppliers should:
- provide appropriate guidance to care organisations when system changes affect how users interact with it, such as user interface changes.
Timescales
All Digital Social Care Record Assured Solution Suppliers must be compliant with the standard from July 2026. Providers using an assured supplier system will have supplier compliance monitored through NHS England assurance processes.
Providers not using an assured supplier system are still expected to adopt the standard, informed by CQC best practice guidance on digital record systems.
