How to register with the CQC – a complete guide

Main CQC registration requirements

If you are looking to register your company or services with the CQC (Care Quality Commission) your qualification is one of the most important aspects. Without these qualifications you cannot be accepted. You must be a registered nurse, a social worker or a healthcare professional with a Level 5 National Vocational Qualification in Health and Social Care.

Other CQC registration requirements

When registering with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) another important aspect is your business location. Before attempting to register you need to make sure that you have a business address from where you can deliver your activities. A home office is sometimes accepted by CQC if it is a separate locked room. Unauthorised persons should not have access to the office due to Data Protection. The room should be properly converted in an office. No clutter or used as a storage for items that do not belong in an office.

Setup your business first, then apply for a CQC license. We are approached on daily basis by people that wish to register their business with the CQC before having an actual business in place. CQC registration should be the last step in the process. Having the business setup, shows CQC you that you are committed, and you will be taken more seriously. We are talking here about: an appropriate business name, a professional logo and website, professional emails, branded documents etc. Contact us if you need help setting up a Domiciliary Care or Supported Living business.

Documents needed

We helped countless of people starting a Domiciliary Care business and registering with the CQC. Based on our previous experience, we have put together a list of documents that you will need:

The registered manager must have a CV which covers ALL the previous jobs. You must add to your CV any gap longer than a month, and you must explain it. For example: career break, maternity, study etc). The format of the FROM and TO dates must be DD/MM/YYYY.
DBS – if you are a registered professional (nurse or social worker) you will be required to apply for an enhanced DBS. If you are healthcare professional with NVQ Level 5, you will need to apply for a CQC countersigned enhanced DBS. You can apply here: DBS checks for CQC registration – Care Quality Commission
For the registration you need to upload five policies and procedures: Governance, Quality Assurance, Safeguarding, Medication, Infection Control. More policies can be requested by the CQC during phase two of the application process. Yes, there is a phase two. The misconception is that you go on the portal, fill in a form and wait for a decision or interview date.
If you are renting an office, a copy of the contract.
A QUOTE (no need to buy) from an insurance company. The quote must be for Employer and Public Liability.
A Financial Viability Form which needs to be signed by your accountant. The form can be downloaded from here: New guidance on assessing the financial viability of providers applying for registration – Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)
A business plan. Please seek professional advice as CQC is extremely specific with the business plan. It must be very robust, with full background information, detailed financial cashflow forecast for 3 years, SWOT analysis, market research, objectives, marketing plan and the list goes on. We have seen care providers having their applications returned due to the business plan.
The Statement of Purpose – a core document which will give CQC a clear understanding of who you are, where is your CQC Location, what type of services you are seeking to offer and to what category of clients (children, adults, mental health, physical disability, dementia, autism etc). Again, the majority the applications are returned due to the Statement of Purpose not being filled in correctly.
Training matrix – which shows what courses will you offer to your staff and how you will monitor training compliance.
Registered manager supporting document – this document highlights the qualifications and suitability of the registered manager.

Depending on the type of service you will offer, CQC may send you additional forms to fill in. For example, if you request that your license covers people with autism, CQC will send you and additional form asking information on how you are planning to care for this category of service users.

CQC Provider Portal

This is where organisations or individuals can register online to become a CQC registered care provider.

You can create an account following this link: Provider Portal | OLS (cqc.org.uk)

Use your professional business email address to create an account. CQC will send you a link and a password. Write down your password. Once you logged in, you can start your application. You can save your progress and return any time. As we mentioned before, first prepare your business and documents then when you think you are ready, create the CQC portal account.

Stages

There are two stages in the CQC application.

Stage 1

This is when:

You gain access to the portal
You fill in the application
Upload some of the documents (some will be sent in Stage 2)
You fill in the Provider Application AND the Registered Manager’s Application

You have completed the Provider Application, you press the button, and you think it is over, you just must wait. It is not! This closes the Provider’s Application and automatically sends an email to the Registered Manager to fill in their part. Only when the Registered Manager filled in their part, and presses the Submit button, the full application goes to the CQC. At this point, do not Open or Edit any of the applications. This action will reset the application. You can make corrections later, by email, when CQC will contact you. And CQC will contact you, trust me.

Once you submitted the application, you must check your email every day. CQC will email you when you least expect, and they will give you 3 DAYS ONLY to fix your errors or to provide further evidence. If you fail to email CQC within 3 DAYS with the information requested, the application will be “returned” to you.

Stage 2

After you have corrected your mistakes, offered all the information required, and you satisfied the first CQC inspector, your application will be sent to a second inspector. Again, more information and evidence will be asked from you. Once you satisfied the second inspector as well, you will be given an interview date.

If you are successful with the interview, you will receive further emails with instructions about how to access your documents and the license. You will be given access to the Providers Portal.

The Interview

The CQC interview is conducted in a very friendly manner. Do not let the guard down as at the same time CQC is very thorough. Lately it takes place online, via Teams.

We do not think it is ethical to share here the specific questions CQC may ask during the interview as that is like cheating. We believe that Care should be taken seriously and only people that really deserve to be in this industry should pass the interview. Otherwise, vulnerable people can be put in danger.

You should expect a lot of questions formulated around various scenarios: “what would you do if….” Also, there are a lot of questions around safeguarding, training, recruitment, business continuity, finance, business growth, manager’s support, business management structure etc. It depends on the business and the registered manager. The CQC inspector can make an idea in 5-10 minutes about your level of experience. Based on that, the interview can last one, or even 3 hours.

We believe that to be successful with the CQC registration two things matter the most:

The application – the wording in the application and the quality of documentation submitted (50%)
The registered manager’s skills and experience (50%)

If we have not answered your question, contact us. We will try to answer it on the spot.