CQC Compliance Checklist
This comprehensive CQC compliance checklist has been developed in alignment with the Provider Compliance Assessment framework established by the Care Quality Commission. It enables health and social care providers to systematically evaluate their service against essential CQC regulatory standards, including Outcome 2 (Regulation 18): Consent to Care and Treatment, Outcome 12 (Regulation 21): Requirements Relating to Workers, and fourteen additional regulatory outcomes covering all fundamental standards of quality and safety.
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How to Use This Checklist
- Each outcome section poses a set of evidence questions. You gather the relevant evidence for each question and judge whether it demonstrates that the outcome is being met.
- Record your rating for each question against the four-point scale: Green, Yellow, Amber, or RED.
- Record the outcome date, the person who prepared the inspection, and the location at the start of the checklist.
- Because the checklist runs to 141 questions across 17 outcome areas, work through it section by section rather than attempting to complete it in one sitting.
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What the CQC compliance process is
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates health and social care services in England against a set of fundamental standards of quality and safety. A compliance inspection is your structured assessment of whether your service meets those standards. This checklist is built around the CQC's Provider Compliance Assessment framework, which groups the standards into numbered outcomes, each tied to a regulation. The outcomes covered here span the whole of a service's operation: respecting and involving people who use services (Outcome 1, Regulation 17); consent to care and treatment (Outcome 2, Regulation 18); care and welfare (Outcome 4, Regulation 9); meeting nutritional needs (Outcome 5, Regulation 14); cooperating with other providers (Outcome 6, Regulation 24); safeguarding from abuse (Outcome 7, Regulation 11); cleanliness and infection control (Outcome 8, Regulation 12); management of medicines (Outcome 9, Regulation 13); safety and suitability of premises (Outcome 10, Regulation 15); safety, availability and suitability of equipment (Outcome 11, Regulation 16); requirements relating to workers (Outcome 12, Regulation 21); staffing (Outcome 13, Regulation 22); supporting staff (Outcome 14, Regulation 23); assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision (Outcome 16, Regulation 10); complaints (Outcome 17, Regulation 19); and records (Outcome 21, Regulation 20). Working through the outcomes gives you a single, comparable picture of compliance across every fundamental standard, rather than a set of disconnected checks.
Why it matters
Compliance is not a one-off exercise. The CQC's fundamental standards exist to ensure that care is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led, and your service is expected to demonstrate that it meets them on an ongoing basis. The checklist helps you to: - identify where you can evidence compliance and where gaps remain - show that you involve people who use services in decisions about their care - confirm that consent, safeguarding, medicines management and infection control are handled consistently - demonstrate that care is coordinated when several services, teams or agencies are involved - evidence that staff are recruited, supported and available in sufficient numbers - show that you assess and monitor the quality of your service and act on the results
What a good CQC compliance inspection covers
A thorough inspection examines both the care delivered and the systems behind it. The checklist's 141 questions are framed as evidence statements, so for each one you should be able to point to something concrete: a record, an observation, a policy that is actually followed, or a conversation with a person who uses the service. A well-grounded inspection covers: - involvement and consent: that people are supported to participate in decisions, receive information about their options, and that valid consent is obtained before examination, care, treatment or support - care and welfare: that needs are identified from referral or first contact, that deterioration is recognised and acted on, and that accommodation and duration of stay meet needs without unnecessary restriction - nutrition and hydration: that nutritional needs are identified and met, that people can make decisions about food and drink, and that fasting is safely managed - coordination with other providers: that information is shared securely and in a timely way, that roles are clear when several agencies are involved, and that emergency responses are planned - safeguarding: that abuse is prevented, that staff comply with adult and child protection procedures and statutory reporting, and that restraint is used only as a last resort and in the least restrictive manner - premises, equipment, medicines and infection control - workforce: that requirements relating to workers are met and that staff are supported and available in sufficient numbers - quality monitoring, complaints and records: that the service assesses and monitors its own quality and learns from complaints
How to carry out a CQC compliance inspection
1. Prepare. Review the outcomes in the checklist and identify who will gather evidence for each. 2. Work through each outcome in turn. For every evidence question, ask what record, observation or account demonstrates that the outcome is met. 3. Gather evidence from multiple sources, including people who use the service, their representatives, staff, records and the physical environment. 4. Rate each question against the four-point scale. 5. Note gaps where evidence is missing or partial, and record what action is needed. 6. Review the completed checklist together with the responsible managers, agree actions and set dates for re-checking.
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