WIREDGOV

Following two consecutive consultations on the fees that it charges to health and social care providers, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced changes to its fee structure and the amounts that certain providers have to pay under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. These have been approved by the Secretary of State for Health.

The fees reflect government guidance to CQC that it must recover the costs of regulation from providers.

The responses received to both consultations have led to the following changes in the fees that CQC charges providers. These included:

• bringing providers of out-of-hours services, who will be registered from 1 April 2012, into the scheme using the same bandings and fees scale as for “Dental and Independent Ambulance Services” providers;

• reducing the lowest banding for the category “Adult Social Care providers without accommodation” from £1,000 to £720;

• reducing the charges for the third and fourth bandings for the category “Dental and Independent Ambulance Services” providers from £6,000 and £12,000 to £4,000 and £10,000 respectively;

• charging a flat rate annual fee of £1500 to certain Primary Care Trusts; and

• changing the basis of charging fees from turnover to locations for the Health Protection Agency, NHS Blood and Transplant and NHS Direct (NHSD). 

CQC Chief Executive Cynthia Bower said: “Our approach to fees is based on fairness and on raising only as much income as we need to cover the costs of regulation. We have listened to what providers have told us during both these consultation and have made changes to address concerns and make the fees that we charge transparent and as proportionate as possible.”

Later this year we the CQC will be launching another consultation about its longer-term fees strategy from 2013/16, which will include specific proposals for fees for 2013/14.  These proposals will be for providers of NHS general practice and other primary medical services who will be registered with CQC from 1 April 2013, as well as potential changes to fees for independent healthcare providers.

For further information please contact the CQC press office on 020 7448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. We make sure that care in hospitals, dental practices, ambulances, care homes, people’s own homes and elsewhere meets government standards of quality and safety – the standards anyone should expect whenever or wherever they receive care. We also protect the interests of vulnerable people, including those whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act.

We register services if they meet government standards, we make unannounced inspections of services – both on a regular basis and in response to concerns – and we carry out investigations into why care fails to improve. We continually monitor information from our inspections, from information we collect nationally and locally, and from the public, local groups, care workers and whistleblowers. We put the views, experiences, health and wellbeing of people who use services at the centre of our work and we have a range of powers we can use to take action if people are getting poor care.