What the Regulations and the CQC actually ask of a care service, in plain English.
Short guides for the people who run care services in England. Each one says what the rule is, what it means for your service and what to do next, with the paragraph for every point so you can read the source yourself. Written for managers, not lawyers.
CQC’s assessment framework explained for a small care service (October 2026)
Five key questions, 34 quality statements, a score of 1 to 4 and the percentage thresholds that set a rating. What each means, what CQC says will change, and what a small service keeps ready.
Read the explainer →- Registered managers · staff files
Recruiting care workers: the checks and documents CQC expects in every staff file
What Regulation 19 and Schedule 3 say must be available for every person you employ, how DBS Adult First and the Update Service fit, how long to keep records, and the 1 October 2026 right to work change.
Read the checklist → - Registered managers · training
Care staff training: what is actually required, what CQC expects, and what is good practice
What regulation 18 says, what the law names (learning disability and autism training), what CQC expects (the Care Certificate) and what Skills for Care recommends. A table of topic, who and source.
Read the guide → - Registered managers · medicines
Managing medicines in home care: the support you give, the MAR chart, and what to do when something goes wrong
What NICE NG67 asks of a home care service on medicines: assess, write the support into the care plan, keep the MAR, check competence, and learn from errors and near misses.
Read the guide → - Registered managers · notifications
Statutory notifications to CQC: what you must report, by when, and what happens next
Which events must be reported to CQC, how soon, on what form, and what the Regulations say about not notifying. A table by regulation.
Read the guide →
The sources behind these pages
Each guide names its sources and the version it was checked against. The product cites the same documents on every duty it tracks.
- The Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/3112), regulations 2, 12, 14 to 18, 22A, 23 and 25Latest available (revised) version on legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 2 October 2026; amendments to regulations 16 to 18 dated in the capture · GOV.UK
- CQC: Regulations for service providers and managers (guidance for providers)First published 1 April 2015; PDF copy held in docs/sources/care, retrieved 2 October 2026 (exact cqc.org.uk page address not verified) · GOV.UK
- NICE guideline NG67: Managing medicines for adults receiving social care in the communityPublished 30 March 2017; capture dated 2025; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- NICE guideline SC1: Managing medicines in care homesCapture dated 2025; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, regulation 12SI 2014/2936; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- CQC: Guidance for providers on meeting the regulations, regulation 12 (safe care and treatment)Retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2936), regulation 18legislation.gov.uk; capture headed "Document Generated: 2023-04-24"; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- CQC, Regulations for service providers and managers: guidance on regulations 18 and 19CQC guidance providers must have regard to; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- The Care Certificate StandardsHealth Education England, Skills for Care and Skills for Health; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- Health and Care Act 2022, section 181: Mandatory training on learning disability and autismlegislation.gov.uk; in force 1 July 2022; no known outstanding effects; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- The Oliver McGowan code of practice on statutory learning disability and autism trainingDepartment of Health and Social Care, Crown copyright 2025 (E03383362 06/25); retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- Statutory and mandatory training guide for adult social care employersSkills for Care, December 2025; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- CQC: Regulation 19, Fit and proper persons employed (regulation and guidance)Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014; CQC guidance book, section dated 30 June 2022; read 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, Schedule 3Text from the draft instrument laid before Parliament (document generated 2023-04-24; since made as S.I. 2014/2936); check legislation.gov.uk for the current text; read 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- DBS checks: guidance for employersPublished 27 March 2013, last updated 16 January 2026; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- Handling of DBS certificate informationUpdated 4 July 2018; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- Employer’s guide to right to work checks: 1 October 2026In force 1 October 2026 (GOV.UK page updated 1 October 2026); no paragraph numbers, cited by section heading; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- CQC, Assessment framework (key questions and quality statements)cqc.org.uk, page last updated 22 May 2025; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- CQC, Assessing quality and performance (how often we assess, how we gather evidence, how we reach a rating, levels of ratings, factual accuracy check, rating process review)cqc.org.uk, section pages last updated between 21 May 2024 and 22 July 2026; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- CQC, Evidence categories, and Homecare and shared lives services: evidence categoriescqc.org.uk, pages last updated 29 April 2024 (categories), 22 February 2024 (homecare, safe) and 13 August 2025 (homecare, well-led); retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- CQC, Our initial response to our public consultation: Better regulation, better carecqc.org.uk, page last updated 25 March 2026; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- CQC, Our improvement plans for 2026cqc.org.uk, published 27 November 2025, page last updated 23 December 2025; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
- CQC, DRAFT adult social care assessment framework v9 (PDF, 64 pages)cqc.org.uk, file dated 19 March 2026, published for feedback; that consultation closed 12 June 2026; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
For search engines and AI assistants
A plain-text summary of what MyCareGuard is and is not is at /llms.txt. What changed in the product, month by month, is at /changelog/.
MyCareGuard is software, not a legal adviser or a CQC inspector; it does not give legal advice. This page describes what the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, the CQC’s published guidance and the other named documents say, with the paragraph for each point, so you can read the source yourself. Versions and dates are those in force on the date shown; the documents change, so check the current version before you rely on any of it.
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