Care Quality Commission opts to freeze fees for 2021/2022
Every registered provider must pay fees each year.
Fees cover all the costs of:
- initial registration
- changes to provider registration, and
- CQC activities associated with monitoring, inspection and rating.
Fees depend on type of service provided and the scale of the service.
The CQC fees scheme, which covers all our costs of regulation, including CQC registration, monitoring and CQC inspection, will not change next year – in 2021/22.
NHS trusts, NHS GPs and community social care providers may see a small change to their fees from April 2021, up or down, because each provider’s fee is calculated by looking at their size against the total size of the sector, both of which change year-on-year. However, the total fees collected for each sector will not change.
This was welcome news to the healthcare sector especially during this pandemic challenging time. Usually when there is a fees change, CQC is required by law to consult. As there will be no fees change, CQC will not be consulting. Providers are now better positioned to incorporate the current fees into their future budgets, helping them to be more organised and plan their financials better.
The fees scheme has remained the same for the past two years. CQC has a guidance and calculator on there website: https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/fees/fees-calculator
Will this trend continue beyond next year? As there has been limited statutory visits by CQC due to the pandemic, was it not a good idea to reduce the fees instead?