Our guidance and advice helps those considering opening a new adult social care organisation. New care organisations must be carefully planned to ensure sustainability and the ability to deliver high-quality care.
Our guidance includes recommendations, a checklist and insight from owners and managers that have successfully established new businesses.
For your new service to be successful you will need to research the local market, connect with those that commission care, and ensure managers and staff have the skills to delivery good and outstanding care.
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These recommendations can help guide you through the process of setting up a new service.
Preparing for your CQC interview
If your new service requires CQC registration part of this process will involve an interview with the regulator, usually some weeks after you have submitted your application.
The CQC does not publish a list of questions that they will ask managers and owners as part of this interview and the process can vary depending on your application, the experience of the proposed registered manager and other factors. To help new manager to prepare for CQC interviews, Skills for Care has produced a checklist.
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This guidance is based on feedback from managers and owners who have successfully gone through this process and achieved CQC registration.
Registered manager qualifications
The CQC has complete control over who can become a registered manager. These decisions are made by the CQC registration team on a case-by-case basis after interviewing each prospective manager.
As the registered manager is legally responsible for the quality of care, high levels of competence and experience are essential. The CQC registration team will be primarily looking for somebody who complies with Regulation 19: Fit and proper persons employed.
Skills for Care recommends all those considering the registered manager role to have built up considerable health or care sector experience before commencing this position, including experience of managing others.
Whilst the CQC does not have a definitive list of what qualifications they will accept to become a registered manager; they will often look for completion of the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and management for adult care. This vocational qualification is shaped around the care manager role.
Skills for Care recommends completing this qualification before becoming a registered manager.
Blog: Derek Sleater, occupational therapist, sets up his own care agency
Derek Sleater is an occupational therapist who set up his own care company, Sunday Care Therapy, which opened May 2021.
In this blog post, 'from occupational therapist to setting up my own agency', Derek reflects on his experiences of establishing the new service, including the steps he followed to secure CQC registration and what is needed to raise awareness of a new care business in a local community.
Get in touch
For further advice and support, please contact our Information Team via 0113 241 1275 or information.team@skillsforcare.org.uk