The Care Quality Commission (CQC) can cancel your registration at any time, for a single location or your entire registration. This might render you unable to trade. We look at the CQC’s powers, how you can respond or defence yourself, and actions you might take to prevent registration issues arising in the first place.
CQC’s Powers
The Health and Social Care Act 2008 gives the CQC a wide range of powers to enable it to carry
out its regulatory responsibilities including the cancellation of your registration or, where a serious risk is identified, urgently cancel your registration.
The grounds for cancelling registration are set out in section 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008:
- Failure to comply with relevant requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and its regulations.
- Failure to comply with the law by a registered person, manager or anyone else related to a regulated activity.
- Failure to comply with conditions of registration.
- Obstruction of an inspector or assessor or failing to provide information when requested.
- Other reasons such as non-payment of fees, conviction of an offence, bankruptcy, making false statements in an application for registration or where services become dormant.
The CQC must cancel a registration of a person as a manager where:
- No one is registered as a service provider in respect of a regulated activity, or
- Where the registration of a person as a service provider ceases to be subject to a registered manager condition.
Response and Appeal
The fact that the CQC seeks to cancel your registration does not mean that it is a foregone conclusion. You have the ability to contest, respond and appeal a CQC action and should do so at the earliest opportunity.
The CQC must give you (registered persons) written notice (a “Notice of Proposal”) that they propose to cancel your registration. This notice will state:
- a statement of reasons, including the CQC’s evidence; and
- the timescale for appeals or representations.
You will have 28 days from service of the notice to make representations to the CQC against their proposal to cancel your registration.
If no representations are made within the 28 days period, the CQC must serve a Notice of Decision to cancel registration. Following the Notice of Decision, there are a further 28 days from the service of this notice in which the recipient can make an appeal.
Urgent Cancellation of Registration
“Urgent cancellation” is used where a registered service or activity presents “a serious risk to a person’s life, health or wellbeing” according to the CQC. According to the CQC, “risk” does not necessarily mean that an event has occurred which, for example, has harmed a person. It can cancel registration urgently before harm occurs.
The process for urgently cancelling your registration is different from the notice process referred to above.
For the CQC to urgently cancel your registration, they must apply to the Magistrates’ Court, where you will normally a right to response and defence. We say normally because there is no duty on the CQC to inform providers of such an application. However, the CQC does state:
“We are not legally required to inform providers (provide notice) that we are doing this, but we will usually inform the registered person affected when we are to make the application, so that they have an opportunity to be present when the application is considered by the JP.”
If an order is made, it takes effect immediately, but you can appeal against it to the First-tier Tribunal, within 28 days.
Preventing Registration Issues Arising
GP practices can take a number of proactive steps to ensure they are ready for any CQC inspection:
- Mock Inspections
- Internal training
- Preparing for Independent Investigations & Reviews
- Conducting Internal Investigations and policies and procedures
Kings View Resolutions can help
We are legal consultants specialising in supporting health and social care businesses and organisations with a range of regulatory compliance and other issues arising from the workplace. Specialising in the health and care sector, we work to advise, support and represent businesses to minimise disruption, achieve and maintain required levels of regulatory compliance and limit reputational damage to your business.
Kings View Resolutions comes with 30 years’ combined experience working in the health and care sector, having advised and represented businesses and individuals across the full spectrum of regulatory and fitness to practise issues.
Through our experience, we have gained a reputation as one of the best, rated excellent by clients and customers and known for taking a hand’s on, practical and pragmatic approach to our work.
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Disclaimer: This article is for guidance purposes only. Kings View Chambers accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever for any action taken, or not taken, in relation to this article. You should seek the appropriate legal advice having regard to your own particular circumstances.
