CQC reaches 20,000 service provider registrations

A total of 20,000 adult social care services have registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Over the summer the CQC has been registering adult social care providers under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

By the deadline for registration on 1 October the regulator reported that it had registered 9,400 providers, operating 20,000 services.

The number of services registered under the previous system was estimated to be 24,000, but there are 2,000 providers yet to be registered by the CQC. These will make up the shortfall of 4,000 services because a single provider may run multiple services.

Of the 2,000 providers yet to register, 600 had errors in their initial registration forms and 430 are yet to be called to register because they were new providers which registered under the old system just before it was scrapped. The CQC has been unable to contact 1,300 providers, some of which may have stopped operating.

Des Kelly, executive director of the National Care Forum, said he had been concerned some providers would choose to stop providing services because, he said, the last time a new registration system was introduced about 5% of services decided to close.

The CQC does not plan to take action against any unregistered providers on 1 October until it has established the reasons for their non-registration.

Sector heads acknowledged the difficulty the CQC faced in registering a large number of adult social care providers.

Sheila Scott, chief executive of the National Care Association, said: “My members would like some absolute clarity right now about what is going to happen next and when they will be inspected.”

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