CQC Compliance PolicyA CQC Compliance Policy written for your service
- Written for your organisation, not a template with your logo on it
- Read and approved by a person before it carries your name
- Verified against all 34 required elements of the legislation below
- Kept updated when the law changes, so it never quietly goes stale
No subscription needed. First year of updates included, £12 a year after that.
One-off, first year of updates included. Delivered within 2 working days of your details.
Trusted by UK care providers
Let's build your CQC Compliance Policy
Answer 7 quick questions, about three minutes, and we'll write this policy for your service, in your name, with your people. You can skip anything and add it later.
Asked once, reused for every policy you buy
That's everything we need
0 of 7 answered. You can add the rest at any point before we write it.
- Registered company name
- Trading name (if different)
- Service address
- CQC provider ID
- CQC location ID
- Registered manager
- Nominated individual
Your answers are saved on this device and carried into your order.
Built from the law, checked against the law
The legislation, CQC standards and guidance we analyse to write it.
Your CQC Compliance Policy is structured from these regulations, then verified against every required element of each one before a person signs it off. If the law changes, your policy is updated and you are told what changed and why.
Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- Identifies the named registered manager as a legal role with personal accountability, not merely a job title, and clarify their regulatory responsibilities including potential personal prosecution
- Defines mandatory statutory notification requirements to CQC within required timescales for specified events including unexpected deaths, serious injuries, abuse allegations, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards applications, and police attendance
- Requires CQC registration changes and notifications before operational changes occur, including opening new locations, adding regulated activities, changing the registered manager, or altering service scope
- Mandates the continuous display of the current CQC ratings poster in the entrance hall and publication on the website regardless of rating outcome (Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate)
- Establishes systems for maintaining inspection-ready evidence continuously, including accurate and contemporaneous records across all shifts, rather than retrospective file preparation
- Addresses well-led governance requirements including maintenance of a gifts register, anti-bribery policy, Accessible Information Standard implementation, conflicts of interest documentation, and board-level oversight of all shift operations
Health and Care Act 2022
- Identifies by name the specific Integrated Care Board(s) that have replaced the former Clinical Commissioning Groups for the home's geography, and designate named staff responsible for maintaining relationships with the ICB's Continuing Healthcare team, placement brokers and discharge leads
- Establishes a mandatory pre-admission assessment procedure that staff are empowered to use to refuse admissions where the prospective resident's needs cannot be safely met, specifically addressing discharge-to-assess referrals that arrive without completed Care Act assessments or confirmed funding arrangements
- Requires verification and documentation of funding responsibility and completion of statutory assessments before admission, with a specific protocol for interim placements under the discharge-to-assess model to prevent admitting residents whose needs cannot be met (Regulation 12 breach prevention)
- Designates a named person or role responsible for monitoring Provider Selection Regime award notices relevant to the home's services, ensuring the business can identify standstill periods and mounting challenges within the statutory timeframe if the home is disadvantaged by a direct award or continuation of incumbent
- Establishes procedures for providing evidence to CQC during local authority assurance assessments under the Act's section giving CQC duty to assess councils' discharge of adult social care functions, including processes for documenting and reporting unsustainable fee rates, unsafe discharge practices, and commissioning failures
- Requires designated staff to monitor and participate in the Integrated Care Partnership's strategy development process for the home's area, ensuring the independent care sector perspective is represented in integrated care strategies that determine whether the home is treated as a system partner or cost line
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
- Identifies and lists all regulated activities the service is registered with CQC to provide (e.g. personal care, accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care), and prohibit provision of activities not registered for
- Defines personal care specifically as physical help with washing, dressing, toileting, eating, oral care, skin, hair and nails, and clarify that medicines administration is not a regulated activity
- Requires obtaining consent from residents before delivering care or treatment (Regulation 11), with documented procedures for seeking and recording consent
- Requires visitor access to be facilitated unless restrictions are lawful and justified (Regulation 9A)
- Mandates risk assessment and safety checks of equipment (e.g. hoists, lifting equipment) covering both safe care and treatment (Regulation 12) and premises and equipment safety (Regulation 15)
- Establishes duty of candour procedures (Regulation 20) requiring that when notifiable safety incidents occur, the service must inform the resident or their representative in person, provide a full account, give an apology, and send written follow-up, and clarify this duty is separate from notifying CQC
Written for your service
What we ask you, so none of it is assumed.
Most policy packs are one document sold to everyone with a find and replace on the home name. Your CQC Compliance Policy is written from the legislation above and from your answers to the questions below. Where you have told us something, it says so. Where you have not, it sets out what must happen rather than claiming you already do it.
Your registered name, address, CQC numbers and who holds the key roles. About three minutes. Nothing else is asked before you buy.
Asked once in your own account and used across every policy you own, so a second policy never asks you the same thing twice.
Why it matters. A policy that claims you assess your premises annually, when you never have, is not a harmless overstatement. It is a signed statement handed to your inspector. We would rather write what you must do than guess what you already do.
How it is made
From your details to a policy you can stand behind.
The short questions above: who you are, your CQC registration, and the people this policy names.
One section per required element of the legislation, in your name, with your people.
Automated checks against every required element, then a person reads it before it ships.
When legislation changes, your policy is updated and you are told what changed and why.
Common questions
What you are actually buying.
What exactly do I receive?
A complete CQC Compliance Policy written for your organisation, in your dashboard and as a print-ready PDF on your own letterhead. It names your service, your registration details and your leads, because you gave us them.
Is this a template?
No. Each policy is written for the organisation buying it, structured from the legislation itself, verified against 34 required regulatory elements, and read by a person before it carries your name.
How quickly will I get it?
Within 2 working days of you completing the short questions above. Most arrive sooner.
What happens when the law changes?
We monitor UK care legislation continuously. When something affecting this policy changes, your copy is updated and you are told what changed and why. The first year of updates is included, then £12 a year per policy.
Can I edit the policy myself?
No, and deliberately so: we stand behind every word we approve. If something needs changing, tell us and we amend and re-verify it, so it always remains a document we can both defend to an inspector.
What if I need more than one policy?
Most services do. The Statutory Starter Pack covers the twenty policies every CQC-registered service is expected to hold, and the Complete Policy Library covers all 66.
Why CareStream
Policies written the way an inspector expects to read them.
Before you buy
What the document actually looks like.
Every section it contains, and a page of the real thing. We show the structure and the personalisation rather than the wording, because the wording is what you are paying us to write for your service.
Contents of your CQC Compliance Policy
- Purpose and scopewho it covers
- Legal and regulatory frameworkcited in full
- Definitions used in this policy
- Roles and responsibilitiesyour people, named
- Procedure, step by step
- Recording, reporting and escalation
- Training and competency
- Monitoring, audit and review
- Related policies and documents
- Version control and approvalsigned and dated
Section 4 · Roles and responsibilities
Who is accountable, by name
Overall accountability for this policy rests with your registered manager, supported by your nominated individual. Day to day responsibility sits with your named lead, who is the first point of contact for staff at your service address.
The remaining wording is written for the organisation buying it, so it is not shown here.
“The inspector asked for evidence and I had it on screen before she finished the sentence.”
Registered Manager · 48-bed nursing home, West SussexRelated policies
More policies your service may need.
More statutory and operational policies CareStream writes for your service, personalised, human-reviewed and kept updated, exactly like this one.
Data Protection and GDPR Policy
Lawful handling of personal and special category data under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Duty of Candour Policy
Being open and honest when things go wrong, under Regulation 20.
Clinical Governance Policy
How clinical quality is led, measured, audited and improved.
Statement of Purpose
Your registered Statement of Purpose under the 2009 Registration Regulations, ready to file with CQC.
Confidentiality Policy
Keeping personal information confidential, and when sharing is right.
Business Continuity Policy
Keeping people safe through outages, staffing crises and emergencies, with your escalation contacts.
Compared
The four ways care services get a policy.
We have compared what each approach does rather than naming competitors, because products change and the comparison should still be true next year.
| CareStream | A policy pack | A consultant | A free template | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Questions asked at the point of purchase, so it is personalised rather than blank | ||||
| Written for your service, naming your manager and your leads | ||||
| Structured from the regulations, every required element checked before it is sent | ||||
| A branded companion document setting out the law it was written against | ||||
| Read and approved by a person before it carries your name | ||||
| Prints on your own letterhead with a sign-off and version block | ||||
| Named role holders update everywhere when the person changes | ||||
| Kept current when the law changes, and you are told what changed | ||||
| Turnaround stated before you buy | ||||
| Your staff can ask it questions in their own language | ||||
| What it costs | £39 to £79 per policy, one-off | £250 to £995 for the pack | A day rate, typically £400 upwards | Nothing |
Prices are the published rates of the common alternatives as at September 2026, for comparison only.
Training
Owning the policy is half of it
An inspector asks whether your staff understood it, not whether you hold it. Ninety eight modules written and kept current by us, to the same regulations, from £25.99 per staff member with no subscription.
