CQC registration, answered plainly.

Any organisation carrying on a regulated activity in England must register with the Care Quality Commission before it starts delivering care. Regulated activities include treatment of disease, disorder or injury; diagnostic and screening procedures; surgical procedures; personal care; and transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely.

This applies whether the service is delivered in a physical clinic or entirely online. Carrying on a regulated activity without registration is a criminal offence.

Preparing a complete new provider application typically takes 2 to 4 weeks. CQC's own assessment usually adds a further 10 to 14 weeks, including the registered manager interview. Most providers should plan for 3 to 5 months from starting work to holding a granted registration.

CQC does not publish a guaranteed timescale. An incomplete application is returned as invalid, which restarts the process – which is why front-loading the preparation is almost always faster overall than submitting early and hoping.

A new provider application needs a Statement of Purpose, provider and registered manager application forms, DBS certificates and fit and proper person evidence, proof of the location, financial viability information, insurance evidence including public and employer liability, and a set of policies.

CQC's mandatory registration policy document is titled "Governance and quality assurance policies" – audit and risk management fold into it rather than being separate required documents. An infection prevention and control policy is required from all providers.

Since 22 June 2026, online primary care providers must additionally submit an inclusion and exclusion criteria policy, a medical emergency policy, and medical indemnity insurance that expressly covers online services.

The Nominated Individual is the person the provider appoints to be responsible for supervising how the regulated activity is managed, and is the provider's main point of contact with CQC.

The Registered Manager is registered with CQC in their own right to manage the regulated activity day to day, and is personally accountable under the regulations.

The regulations permit one person to hold both roles. In practice, combining them in a small provider can attract scrutiny at registration – particularly where that same individual is also the sole clinician. It is legal, but it invites the question of who provides challenge and oversight.

Once an application is accepted as valid, CQC interviews the proposed registered manager, and often the nominated individual separately. The assessor tests whether the candidate understands the service they are registering, the regulations that apply to it, how they will meet the quality statements in the Single Assessment Framework, and how they will handle safeguarding, incidents, complaints and statutory notifications.

It is a substantive assessment, not a formality. A weak interview can delay or sink an otherwise sound application, which is why we run mock interviews as standard.

The Single Assessment Framework is the model CQC uses to assess all services. It retains the five key questions – is the service safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led – and sets out quality statements beneath them, written as "we" statements describing what a good service does.

CQC gathers evidence against those quality statements from multiple sources on an ongoing basis rather than relying on a single scheduled inspection visit. In practice this means your evidence needs to be current, not assembled in a panic when a visit is announced.

Yes. We run a dedicated rescue and resubmission service. We obtain and review the failed submission, identify exactly what triggered the return, rework the application, and carry it through to acceptance and the registered manager interview.

The most common causes of return we see: a registered manager form signed before the DBS issue date; mismatches between the Statement of Purpose and the application forms on location name, service types or service user bands; incomplete sector-specific forms; missing required policies; and unresolved questions about the registered premises.

A Notice of Proposal starts a strict statutory deadline for making written representations to CQC. Missing it usually removes your chance to change the outcome before it becomes a Notice of Decision.

Act immediately: gather the evidence that addresses each ground CQC has given, and respond point by point rather than in general terms. We draft representations and rebuild the underlying application in parallel, so that if the proposal is not withdrawn you are ready to reapply without losing further months. Contact us the day you receive one.

Yes. A service delivered entirely remotely to people in England is still carrying on regulated activities and must register.

Online providers face additional scrutiny on identity verification, prescribing governance, safety-netting, escalation to face-to-face care, and the suitability of the registered location. Premises grounds are a frequent cause of refusal for remote providers – a virtual office or unattended mail address may not satisfy CQC that the location is genuine. We have rebuilt applications refused on exactly this point.

We quote a fixed fee for defined scopes such as a full done-for-you CQC registration, an hourly rate for ad hoc advisory work, and a monthly retainer for ongoing compliance partnership. Rescue and resubmission of a previously refused application is scoped separately.

Every quote follows a scoping call, so you know the number and the timeline before you commit to anything. Request a quote and we come back within one working day.

Scopes which regulated activities and service types you need. Drafts the Statement of Purpose and application forms. Builds the policy and governance framework to your model of care. Assembles the evidence pack. Prepares the registered manager and nominated individual for interview. Manages correspondence with CQC through to a decision.

After registration the same work continues as inspection readiness, statutory notifications, and governance support – see ongoing compliance.

Yes – it is a core specialism rather than an add-on. Alongside CQC registration we advise on DTAC, DCB0129 and DCB0160 clinical risk management, medical device classification under the UK MDR and MHRA registration routes, and information governance.

That includes founders who need to defend a non-medical-device position for a platform feature, or prepare for a Class I or Class IIa route. See digital health regulatory support.

Yes. We provide clinical risk management under DCB0129 for manufacturers of health IT and DCB0160 for the organisations deploying it, producing the Clinical Risk Management Plan, Hazard Log and Clinical Safety Case Report.

We also act as a fractional Clinical Safety Officer – a named UK-registered clinician trained in clinical risk management who authors and signs the safety case. Clinical safety and fractional CSO support.

Yes. We support medical laboratories seeking or maintaining UKAS accreditation to ISO 15189:2022 – gap analysis, quality management system build, method validation and verification, competency evidence and assessment preparation.

Laboratory services in England usually also need CQC registration for diagnostic and screening procedures, and the two share substantial evidence, so we run them as one programme. UKAS ISO 15189 support.

Yes. We produce written qualification and classification opinions – is your product a medical device, and at what class – under the UK Medical Devices Regulations 2002 and EU MDR 2017/745, including Rule 11 for software and AI. We also advise on UKCA and CE routes, ISO 13485 and ISO 14971 readiness, and UK Responsible Person arrangements, bringing in specialist device partners for deep technical execution. Medical device regulation.

We work with providers across the United Kingdom. CQC registration itself applies to services in England. Delivery is remote UK-wide, with on-site work where the engagement requires it.

Govanta Compliance is the trading name of Andrews Healthcare Holdings Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 17167904. It was founded by Dr Jonathan Andrews, a UK medical doctor since 2015.