Statutory notifications to CQC: what you must report, by when, and what happens next
Some events in a care service must be reported to CQC. The list is short, it is in law, and most of it says “without delay”. This page takes the notifications one regulation at a time: what triggers it, how soon, and how it is sent. Each rule names the regulation so you can check it.
In short
- The duty sits with the registered person: the provider or a registered manager (regulation 2).
- Deaths, serious injuries, abuse or allegations of abuse, police incidents and events that threaten safe running are reported “without delay” (regulations 16 and 18). The Regulations give no number of hours.
- Written timings exist for a manager’s absence: 28 days notice in advance, 5 working days after an emergency absence, 7 working days after a return (regulation 14).
- Notifications must be made on the forms CQC provides (regulation 22A). Failing to notify is an offence (regulation 25).
1. Who sends it
The Regulations place the duty on the “registered person”. That is the provider or the registered manager.
“registered person” means, in respect of a regulated activity, the person who is the service provider or a registered manager in respect of that activity;
If there are several registered persons, one of them can do it for all.
Where there is more than one registered person in respect of a regulated activity, or in respect of that activity as carried on at or from particular premises, anything which is required under these Regulations to be done by the registered person shall, if done by one of the registered persons, not be required to be done by any of the other registered persons.
In practice, agree who does it before the night it happens. A care worker who sees an incident tells the manager; the manager decides whether it is listed.
2. What, when and how
| Event | Regulation | When | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revised statement of purpose | 12(3) | Within 28 days of the revision | Written details to CQC |
| Planned absence of the manager (or provider in day-to-day charge) of 28 days or more | 14(1), (2) | No later than 28 days before it starts, or a shorter period agreed with CQC | Notice in writing; CQC form (22A) |
| Absence that arises in an emergency | 14(3) | Within 5 working days of its occurrence | Notice with the matters in 14(2)(a) to (e); CQC form |
| Absence of 28 days or more, with CQC not told | 14(4) | “forthwith” | Notice in writing |
| Return to duty | 14(5) | Not later than 7 working days after the return | Notification; CQC form |
| Changes: who carries on or manages the activity, names, partners, directors, secretary, nominated individual, receivers or liquidators | 15(1) | As soon as reasonably practicable, including when proposed | Notice in writing; CQC form |
| Death of a person using the service, during or resulting from the care | 16(1), (3) | Without delay | CQC form, with the circumstances of the death |
| Death or unauthorised absence of someone detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 | 17 | Without delay | CQC form |
| Serious injury (18(2)(a), (b)) | 18(2)(a), (b) | Without delay | CQC form |
| Abuse or allegation of abuse | 18(2)(e) | Without delay | CQC form |
| Incident reported to, or investigated by, the police | 18(2)(f) | Without delay | CQC form |
| Event that stops, or threatens to stop, safe running | 18(2)(g) | Without delay | CQC form |
| Deprivation of Liberty: standard authorisation request or court application | 18(4A), (4B) | Once the outcome is known, or at withdrawal | CQC form, with the statement in 18(4B) |
3. The detail that is easy to miss
Deaths
You report a death that happened while care was being provided, or that has or may have resulted from it. Say what happened.
the registered person must notify the Commission without delay of the death of a service user— (a) whilst services were being provided in the carrying on of a regulated activity; or (b) which has, or may have, resulted from the carrying on of a regulated activity.
Notification of the death of a service user must include a description of the circumstances of the death.
Injuries, abuse, police and events that threaten the service
Regulation 18 covers “incidents” that happen while care is provided, or as a result of it.
the registered person must notify the Commission without delay of the incidents specified in paragraph (2) which occur whilst services are being provided in the carrying on of a regulated activity, or as a consequence of the carrying on of a regulated activity.
Injury is judged by a health care professional, not by the manager. “Prolonged” has a meaning:
“prolonged pain” and “prolonged psychological harm” means pain or harm which a service user has experienced, or is likely to experience, for a continuous period of at least 28 days
Events that threaten safe running include too few suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff, and some outages:
an interruption in the supply to premises owned or used by the service provider for the purposes of carrying on the regulated activity of electricity, gas, water or sewerage where that interruption has lasted for longer than a continuous period of 24 hours
The same paragraph lists physical damage to premises with a detrimental effect on care, and failure of fire alarms or other safety devices for longer than a continuous 24 hours (18(2)(g)(iii), (iv)). Note that the 24 hours here is how long the fault lasts. It is not a deadline for telling CQC.
Deprivation of Liberty
These are reported when the answer is known, not when the request is made.
Any notification required to be given in respect of an event in paragraph (4A) shall be given once the outcome of the request or application is known or, if the request or application is withdrawn, at the point of withdrawal
Absence of the registered manager
Plan ahead where you can. In an emergency, the clock is 5 working days.
Except in the case of an emergency, the notice referred to in paragraph (1) must be given no later than 28 days before the proposed absence commences or within such shorter period as may be agreed with the Commission
The registered person must notify the Commission of the return to duty of the service provider or (as the case may be) the registered manager not later than 7 working days after the date of that return.
4. How it is sent, and the offence
Notifications made pursuant to regulations 14 to 18 and 21 and 22 must be made using the forms provided by the Commission for this purpose.
The forms are on cqc.org.uk. We have not described them, because we could not reach those pages when writing this article. Use the current form from CQC’s own site.
A contravention of, or failure to comply with, any of the provisions of regulations 12 and 14 to 20 shall be an offence.
Regulation 25(2) sets the penalty on summary conviction at a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale. The offence covers each of the duties in the table. It is a reason to notify when unsure, and to keep proof that you did.
5. What happens next: record and learn
The Regulations tell you to notify. They do not say what CQC does with the notification, and we have not found a source for that, so we do not say. What you can control is your own record.
CQC’s guidance on the duty of candour (Regulation 20 of the 2014 Regulations) overlaps with notifications. It says:
You must keep your own clear records of cases where you have responded to notifiable safety incidents. It may be that the incident also meets the notification thresholds and if so should be reported through the STEIS and NRLS/PSIMS systems or the CQC notification system dependent on care sector.
A simple record for each notifiable event: the date and time, what happened, which regulation you decided it fell under (or why not), who sent the notification and when, and what you changed afterwards. Then review the pattern with your quality-assurance work; see how CQC assesses with the single assessment framework.
Several notifiable events start somewhere else in the service. A medicines error can lead to a serious injury (managing medicines in home care). A shortage of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff is itself listed in regulation 18(2)(g)(i); see what training is required and recruitment checks.
How MyCareGuard handles this
MyCareGuard keeps an incident and events log: medication errors, safeguarding concerns, accidents and falls, logged, categorised and tracked to resolution, with a dated audit trail. The inspection pack can include the incident log. Each person on an account can switch off any of three email categories (weekly readiness email, weekly group email and access requests) from a “manage my notifications” page; those settings are about MyCareGuard emails. MyCareGuard does not send notifications to CQC for you, and it does not decide whether an event is notifiable. You send them on CQC’s forms; the log helps you show when and what you did.
Questions people ask
Who has to send the notification?
Regulation 2 defines the registered person as the service provider or a registered manager. Regulations 14, 15, 16 and 18 each put the duty on “the registered person”. Regulation 23 says that where there is more than one registered person, something done by one of them need not be done by the others.
How quickly is “without delay”?
The Regulations do not give a number of hours or days. Regulations 16, 17 and 18(1) say “without delay” and stop there. Where a figure exists it is in the text: 28 days for a revised statement of purpose (regulation 12(3)), 5 working days for an emergency absence (regulation 14(3)) and 7 working days for a return to duty (regulation 14(5)). We found no other time limit in the regulations and give none.
Do we notify if a resident has a fall?
Only if it meets regulation 18(2)(a) or (b): an injury which, in the reasonable opinion of a health care professional, has the listed results (such as an impairment that is not likely to be temporary, or prolonged pain) or needs treatment by a health care professional to prevent death or those outcomes. Regulation 18(5)(g) sets “prolonged” at a continuous period of at least 28 days. A fall with no such injury is not listed by those paragraphs, but is still worth recording.
Is an allegation enough, or does it have to be proven?
Regulation 18(2)(e) says “any abuse or allegation of abuse in relation to a service user”. An allegation is enough. Regulation 18(5)(b) lists what “abuse” means: sexual abuse, physical or psychological ill-treatment, theft, misuse or misappropriation of money or property, and neglect and acts of omission which cause harm or place at risk of harm.
Can we phone, email or write a letter instead of using the form?
Regulation 22A says notifications made under regulations 14 to 18 and 21 and 22 “must be made using the forms provided by the Commission for this purpose”. We could not reach the CQC web pages when writing this, so we do not describe the forms. Find them on cqc.org.uk.
What happens if we do not notify?
Regulation 25(1) makes a contravention of, or failure to comply with, regulations 12 and 14 to 20 an offence, and 25(2) sets a fine on summary conviction not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale. What CQC then does is for CQC to decide; the Regulations do not say.
Sources
- 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
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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