How to Check If a Care Provider Is CQC Registered (Care Home, Home Care or Clinic)

How to Check If a Care Provider Is CQC Registered (Care Home, Home Care or Clinic)

A step-by-step way to confirm a service is registered with the Care Quality Commission, what to read on its CQC page, how to find closed services and lists of providers, and what to do if it is not registered.

To check whether a service is CQC registered, search for it on CQC’s “Find care services” tool, open its profile page and confirm it is listed as an active service with a current registration, provider name and address. The page also shows the latest inspection report and ratings and who is responsible for running the service. CQC says it is an offence to carry on a regulated activity without being registered.

Whether you are choosing a care home for a relative, hiring a home care agency, checking an employer, or doing due diligence on a service, the first step is the same: is it actually registered with CQC, and does the registration match who and where you think it does? This guide walks through the check, what to read on the CQC page, how to find services that have closed, where to get full lists of providers, and what to do if you cannot find a service.

How to Check CQC Registration in 4 Steps

1. Search. Go to CQC’s Find care services and search by the service’s name or location. There are dedicated tools for care homes, home care agencies and healthcare clinics.
2. Open the profile page. Choose the correct location from the results, using the address to make sure it is the right site.
3. Check it is active. CQC’s search defaults to active services. A service marked archived is no longer registered with CQC.
4. Verify the details. Confirm the provider name, address, contact details, latest inspection report and ratings, and who is responsible for running the service.

If it does not appear, try a shorter name, the postcode or the provider’s legal name, and see the section on archived and unregistered services below.

What to Read on a CQC Profile Page

CQC’s profile page guidance says every registered provider has a profile page, with a page for each of its locations that summarises its latest judgements, and that the information reflects the latest registration certificate. If a provider changes its registration, for example by adding a location, the details update once CQC has generated the amended certificate (CQC: About your profile page). A newly registered service may have little or no inspection history yet.

The ID in the web address is the service’s Location ID. See where to find a CQC Location ID and Provider ID.

What “Archived” Means and How to Find Closed Services

You can look up services that are no longer registered by changing the Archived filter from “Show active” to “Show archived”, or to “All” to see both. CQC explains that a page usually becomes archived because a service has stopped operating or been taken over, and lists reasons including the provider closing it voluntarily, CQC taking enforcement action to close it, the legal entity providing the service changing, the service moving address or the provider’s registration changing so the address no longer counts as a registered location (CQC: Searching for the history of care services). An archived page is therefore not always a sign of a problem, but check why before relying on the service.

Lists of CQC Registered Providers and Locations

If you need more than one service, use these routes:

• Search tools: Find care services, Find a care home and Find homecare agencies.
• CQC data: CQC publishes downloadable data sheets listing registered locations and information about registered managers, and an API that includes all active and inactive providers and locations, under the Open Government Licence (CQC: Using CQC data). Users of the API need to authenticate, and CQC says to acknowledge CQC as the source.

The data can include the registration start and end dates, organisation type, regulated activities, service types and linked organisations, so it suits procurement, research and due diligence. For a service you are considering buying, see CQC due diligence when buying a care home.

What If the Service Is Not Registered?

CQC states that any person (individual, partnership or organisation) who provides a regulated activity in England must be registered, otherwise they commit an offence (CQC: What is registration?). Not every arrangement is regulated: what matters is what the service actually does, so some providers, such as some introductory agencies that only introduce a carer to you, may fall outside registration. CQC’s scope of registration guidance explains what counts.

Before you rely on a service you cannot find:

1. Ask the provider for its CQC registered name and Location ID, and check both on CQC’s tool.
2. Check whether it trades under a different name from the registered provider.
3. Ask what it does. If it provides personal care or accommodation with nursing or personal care, it is likely to need registration.
4. If it says it is registered but you cannot verify it, or you have concerns about care, tell CQC through its give feedback on care service.

Registered Does Not Mean Good: Read the Ratings and Reports

Registration confirms a service is legally permitted to provide regulated activities. It does not say how good the care is. Read the latest report and rating on the profile page, look at the date of the report, and compare older reports. For what the ratings mean, see Requires Improvement vs Good and what an Inadequate rating means. For the standards CQC judges services on, see the fundamental standards.

If You Run the Service

Check how your own service appears on CQC’s site, because families and commissioners will. Make sure the provider name, address and registered manager details are right, and that your rating and report are displayed. To start improving your rating, enter your Location ID for a free CQCLogic plan, or see what to do when your registered manager changes.

Sources: CQC: Find care services · CQC: About your profile page · CQC: Searching for the history of care services · CQC: What is registration? · CQC: Using CQC data