CQC Registration Requirements and Process (2026): Documents, Costs and Timeline for New Providers

CQC Registration Requirements and Process (2026): Documents, Costs and Timeline for New Providers

The requirements, the order things happen, the documents CQC asks for, what registration costs and how long it takes, for new care home and home care providers in England.

To register with CQC you must show you will provide safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led care, meet the legal requirements and have everything ready before you apply. In practice that means: a legal entity and the regulated activities you will carry out, an enhanced DBS check for your main contact, a registered manager where one is required, a statement of purpose and the supporting documents for your service type, suitable premises and staff, and public and employer liability insurance. You send the provider forms, manager forms and documents together. CQC says the process can take a few months, and it is an offence to provide a regulated activity before you are registered.

This guide is for people setting up a care home, home care agency or similar service in England who need to register with CQC as a new provider. It sets out the requirements, the process in order, the documents, the registered manager rules, what CQC charges and how long it takes. It is based on CQC’s own registration guidance, linked in the sources section. Where we suggest something that is not a CQC requirement, we say so.

CQC registration requirements at a glance

The fit and proper persons and nominated individual rows summarise CQC’s requirements; read the linked guide and CQC’s scope of registration page for the exact wording for your legal entity type.

Who needs to register with CQC?

You need to register if you plan to provide a regulated activity in England, such as personal care, accommodation for people who need nursing or personal care, or treatment of disease, disorder or injury. What matters is what your service actually does, and CQC asks you to read its What is registration? and Scope of registration guidance first, which also helps you decide the type of legal entity to register as and the regulated activities to apply for (CQC: Register as a provider). Any person who provides a regulated activity without being registered commits an offence under section 10 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Once registered, you can be looked up publicly. See how to check if a provider is CQC registered and what the Care Quality Commission does.

The CQC registration process, step by step

1. Confirm what you need to register for. Work out your regulated activities, the legal entity (individual, partnership or organisation) and each location.
2. Get your DBS check started. CQC says to get a DBS check for your main point of contact, which can usually take up to 60 days. Do this first because it can hold up everything else.
3. Decide who your registered manager will be. Organisations and partnerships need a registered manager for each regulated activity (the exception is NHS trusts). An individual provider who is not responsible for the day-to-day running needs one too.
4. Prepare your supporting documents. See the checklist below. CQC will reject an application without all the required documents.
5. Get your premises and staff ready. CQC says you must only apply when the locations and staff are ready to provide services, and it may refuse an application if your premises are unsuitable, for example if you cannot keep people’s records safe and secure.
6. Submit everything together. Provider forms, registered manager forms and supporting documents must be received at the same time. CQC’s provider page says to apply by form and email.
7. Initial checks. CQC reviews the application to check the forms are complete, the information is correct and you have sent the required documents.
8. Assessment. If you pass the initial checks, CQC assesses the application. It may ask for more information or arrange a Fit Person Interview, a Site Visit Assessment or a Nominated Individual Discussion.
9. Decision. CQC emails you its decision. You cannot manage regulated activities until CQC confirms you are registered.

If you cannot agree a date for assessment activities within 28 days of CQC contacting you, or CQC cannot reach you, your application may be returned or CQC may propose to refuse it. Sources: CQC: Register as a provider (updated 25 August 2026) and CQC’s applying as a new provider guidance.

Which documents do you need to register with CQC?

CQC’s supporting documents guidance says it will reject an application if you do not send all required documents, or if they contain incorrect or out-of-date information, do not include what CQC asks for, or are not relevant to your service. The list depends on your service.

Documents every provider applicant must send

• Statement of purpose (see what to put in a statement of purpose)
• Complaints policy
• Consent policy and procedure
• Equality, diversity and human rights policy
• Governance and quality assurance policies
• Infection prevention and control policy
• Medicines management and prescribing policy
• Recruitment policy
• Safeguarding policy and procedure
• Public and employer liability insurance quote or certificate
• Building control final certificate, if your locations need building regulations approval

CQC also asks for a financial viability statement unless you are a corporate provider, an NHS trust, a care home, a home care agency or a supported living service.

Extra documents by service type

Documents to keep ready but not send

CQC says inspectors may ask for further documents, and that if you cannot provide them when asked your application may be delayed. For both care homes and home care these include a duty of candour policy, a freedom to speak up or whistleblowing policy, a list of risk assessments, a person centred care planning policy, a reportable incidents policy, a risk management policy, a sample care plan, and staffing structure and rotas. Care homes should also have an initial assessment and admission policy, a safety and security of premises policy and a business plan and forecast ready; home care agencies a sample care contract. See the CQC required policies list.

Registered manager requirements

A registered manager is the person in charge of the day-to-day running of regulated activities at a location, and they share legal responsibility with the provider for meeting the regulations. CQC’s manager page says applicants must show proven management experience, be fit to be registered, hold the right qualifications for the service type and understand care laws. In practice you will need:

• relevant management experience and experience with the service user groups covered by the application (recent experience in a regulated service helps);
• a full work history from age 16 onwards, explaining any gaps over 4 weeks;
• a current enhanced DBS certificate countersigned by CQC, issued in the past 12 months;
• contact details for their GP and last employer;
• copies of qualifications and training. CQC gives a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management (or equivalent) as something that would strengthen a home care manager application.

The manager’s forms must go in with your provider application, and CQC says it cannot process the application without them. Managers are also interviewed. CQC warns you could be fined up to £2,500 for false or misleading information. If you are still recruiting, see how to hire a registered manager and interim registered managers.

If you are taking over a location from an existing registered provider and want to keep the same registered manager for the same activities at the same location, that manager can use a shorter form to cancel their existing registration and apply under you at the same time. Every other manager must submit a full new application.

Registering a home care agency: the two-stage check

CQC changed how it handles new homecare applications from 1 July 2025. It now checks them in two stages and routinely returns or rejects applications that are incomplete or inaccurate on receipt, without a full assessment.

If an application is rejected you can correct and resubmit it, but it counts as a new application and does not keep its place in the queue. CQC’s homecare guidance also says you need a completed enhanced DBS check, premises set up and staff recruited before you apply, and that the additional personal care form is your chance to show local demand for your service.

How long does CQC registration take?

CQC does not publish a fixed timescale. Its provider page says the process is rigorous and can take a few months, and that you cannot manage regulated activities until registration is confirmed. Assessment is done in the order applications are received, and CQC has guidance for making an urgent application. Plan around the things that can add time:

Third-party sites quote specific durations. Treat these as estimates. The only official statement is CQC’s “a few months”.

How much does CQC registration cost?

CQC does not list a separate application fee. It says every registered provider pays fees each year, and that the fees cover initial registration, changes to your registration and its monitoring, inspection and rating activities. Your fee depends on the type and scale of service, and CQC sends an invoice stating your exact fee before it is due. Charities pay the same as equivalent providers.

For care and community social care, CQC’s published fee tables (last updated 10 June 2024, showing the 2024/25 fees) work like this:

Check CQC’s fee pages for current figures. See our full guide to CQC annual fees for care homes and home care.

Start-up costs CQC does not set

Budget separately for these. We have not listed prices because they vary by supplier and location:

• Enhanced DBS checks and the recruitment of your registered manager and staff.
• Public and employer liability insurance.
• Premises, fire, gas, electrical and water safety assessments and certificates.
• Policies and procedures, if you buy them in rather than write them.
• Management and staff costs while you wait for registration, which can take a few months.
• Optional help: consultants or document providers charge their own prices. Compare them with CQC’s free guidance before paying.

Why applications get rejected or delayed

CQC’s registration guidance points to these as the main causes:

• Applications that are incomplete or contain incorrect information.
• Forms not all signed and dated, or questions left unanswered.
• Manager forms not sent with the provider application.
• Documents that are missing, out of date, not relevant to your service or not properly labelled.
• Managers who leave gaps in their employment history longer than 4 weeks unexplained.
• Premises that are not ready, or that cannot keep records safe and secure.
• Not being ready to start providing the service when applying.

Use the checklist in CQC’s “How to apply” guidance and ask someone independent to read the whole application against it before you send it.

After you are registered

Registration is the start of your regulatory relationship, not the end. You will need to tell CQC about certain events (see notifiable events), tell it if registration details change (for example a change of registered manager) and pay your annual fee. Your service will get its own CQC page with a Location ID (see where to find your Location ID). New services are assessed once CQC decides to, and CQC prioritises services registered over a year that have not yet been assessed. See how often CQC inspects.

The standards CQC will hold you to from day one are covered in our CQC compliance guide.

Sources and how this was checked

• CQC: Register as a provider (page last updated 25 August 2026).
• CQC: Registration guidance and forms.
• CQC: Applying as a new provider guidance; Supporting documents for new provider applications; Register as a new manager; Better registration process for new homecare applications; Provider fees payable.

Read between 25 September and 25 October 2026. The nominated individual and fit and proper persons rows are our summary; check CQC’s scope of registration guidance for your legal entity type. Fee figures are CQC’s 2024/25 tables and may have changed.