CQC fee increases equivalent to two nurses per NHS provider over two years

30 March 2016

Following a public consultation last year, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has outlined the fees that providers of health and adult social care in England will pay from April 2016 to cover the costs of their regulation. CQC’s regulatory functions are funded both by fees paid by providers and by grant-in-aid from the Department of Health. Government policy requires CQC to increase the fees it has to charge registered providers, so that it can move towards fully recovering the chargeable costs of regulating health and adult social care in England. In its consultation, CQC outlined proposals to achieve full chargeable cost recovery for all of the sectors it regulates over a period of either two or four years. 

In its response to the Care Quality Commission’s publication of its 2016/17 fees scheme for providers, Miriam Deakin, head of policy, NHS Providers, said;

“The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) role in regulating the quality of care is significant in helping acute, mental health, ambulance and community trusts ensure that national standards of safety and quality are met. It is essential that the CQC is appropriately funded to deliver its regulatory duties in a sustainable manner.

It is important the CQC’s regulatory model supports trusts across all services in a valid way with minimum burden

“However, the CQC has been required to move to a model of recovering its costs from the providers it regulates as part of a wider government policy. We are yet to be persuaded of the benefits of charging the costs of regulation to frontline organisations, such as NHS providers, where every penny needs to be reinvested in patient care. It is particularly disappointing to hear today that the CQC will move to full cost recovery in just two years. Not only does this go against the majority outcome of their recent consultation, but it comes at a time when the provider sector faces unprecedented financial challenge. The increase in fees will be the equivalent of a trust losing two senior nursing posts over the two years.”

Read full press statement.