31 March 2014
Following consultation, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published details of the fees to be paid by providers from 1 April 2014. All services registered with CQC are required under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to pay fees to cover the cost of registration and inspection.
The fees scheme reflects government policy which requires CQC to recover the costs of regulation from providers. It has been approved by the Secretary of State for Health.
Fees changes include:
- A differentiated increase to fee charges, based on current levels of cost recovery, which results in:
- No increase for providers of dental services.
- A 1.5% increase for providers of adult social care services and
- 2.5% for all other types of providers.
- Adjusting the fee bandings for providers of care home services to more evenly distribute fee charges.
- Differentiating fees for single location dental providers to better distinguish between smaller and larger services.
CQC chief executive, David Behan, said: “Our purpose is to ensure people receive services which are safe and of high quality. Monitoring, inspecting and regulating services has a cost attached, which is met in part by the fees providers pay. We have listened to the views that were expressed during the consultation, and have made a modest increase to fees, and introduced new fee bands to the care home and dental sectors based on the feedback we received.”
“We will continue to review our fees in consultation with stakeholders whilst ensuring we are delivering value for money.”
“We would like to thank the providers, organisations and individuals who took part in the consultation.”
CQC will carry out another public consultation in the autumn of this year, which will consider the next set of changes to the fees scheme for 2015/16.
Ends
Notes to editors
- CQC is responsible for setting fees for registration under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the 2008 Act).
- The indicative 2014/15 Budget from the CQC is £223m, representing £103m fee income and £120m grant in aid from the Department of Health (subject to final approvals).
- Care homes will see five extra fee bands added to their fees structure in order to reduce some unintended ‘cliff edge’ effects. For example previously a provider would have to pay a much larger fee simply by adding one extra bed to a care home, the extra bands will amend this issue.
- Single location dental providers will now be measured by the number of dental chairs they have this will distribute fees that they are charged more proportionately.
For media enquiries, call the CQC press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours or out of hours on 07917 232 143.
For general enquiries, call 03000 61 61 61.
About the Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, caring, well-led and responsive care, and we encourage care services to improve.
We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.