Better Together information pack: 12. Who regulates Mencap services? - Applicable to England only

CQC is the independent regulator of all health and social care services in England. They monitor, inspect and regulate hospitals, care homes, GP surgeries, dental practices and other care services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. 

In supported living services, the CQC only inspect the services provided to people who receive personal care¹. They are NOT authorised to review the care received by people living in supported living settings if they do not receive personal care.

In Mencap’s registered services, the CQC inspect care generally, including where people do not receive personal care. They do not have to give us notice before they inspect these services.

You can find out about the difference between supported living and residential services in the ‘Who regulates Mencap services’ document in the Better Together pack. 

Please ask the managers that oversee the service if you require clarification on whether your family member or friends care is regulated by the CQC. 

Services can be rated Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate.

A service will have a complete inspection based on CQC assessment of risk.  

Services may be inspected at any time but usually, the frequency of inspections depends on the outcome of previous inspections, or if any concerns have been raised about a service.

CQC may also undertake more focused inspections in response to specific information that they have received, or to follow up findings from a previous inspection.  

Inspection reports are published on CQC’s website : https://www.cqc.org.uk/ and are available for families and others to access.

Inspections can be announced or unannounced meaning that sometimes we will know that inspectors are coming and when, whilst on other occasions we may be given very little warning.

Inspectors will meet with the people we support, colleagues and some families to get a picture of what is going well, and what could be improved. They will be looking to check that services are safe, effective, responsive, caring and well-led and will give an individual rating for each of these five areas; these are their ‘key lines of enquiry’. An overall rating will also be given.  
 

Before an inspection takes place, CQC will ask us to provide them with a list of families of the people we support.  CQC will then contact families to seek feedback as part of the inspection; this is confidential and families are able to speak freely to the inspector about their experiences. 

Should you wish to contact the CQC, you can do so by: 

• Telephone: 0300 061 6161 
• Post: CQC, National Customer Service Centre, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne. NE1 4PA 
• The CQC also have an online contact form: http://www.cqc.org.uk/contact-us/general-enquiries/contact-us-using-our-online-form 
• Website: www.cqc.org.uk