Enforcement policy

The regulations require and authorise us to publish certain information relating to enforcement action.

We are required by law to publish certain details of civil and criminal enforcement. We are also required by law to publish details of any action taken under CQC’s urgent powers. We do this by publishing a summary of the enforcement action taken against a provider on the profile page for the relevant location on our website. We also publish information about our enforcement activity overall.

From March 2024, we no longer include information in our assessment reports about the enforcement action we are taking. In instances where CQC has decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded.

We send copies of notices relating to enforcement action to several third parties, such as commissioners and other regulators. Generally, these notifications are required in the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, but we will also inform any other people that we consider appropriate.

We notify commissioners whenever our activity has an impact on the capacity or configuration of a health and social care economy. Where changes to capacity or configuration are made because of our findings but without formal enforcement – for example, if a provider makes rapid changes and we decide that enforcement would no longer be proportionate – we will still endeavour to notify commissioners.