Statutory notifications: making the right report

Regulation requires

The Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 contain several notification duties. These include specified absences, changes to registered details, deaths and other incidents. A provider should check the precise event and applicable exceptions rather than assume that every incident is reportable in the same way.

Regulation 18 requires specified incidents to be notified without delay. Relevant categories include defined serious injuries, abuse or allegations, police involvement and events threatening safe operation. The statutory wording and current form determine the information required.

Separate the main notification families

• Registration and management changes: check Regulation 15 and the relevant change form.
• Significant absence: Regulation 14 concerns specified registered individuals or managers absent for a continuous period of 28 days or more.
• Deaths: distinguish general service-user death notifications from deaths involving detention under the Mental Health Act.
• Other incidents: assess the Regulation 18 categories and any special reporting arrangements.
• Statement of purpose: changes have their own requirements and should remain consistent with registered activities.

Know the timescale

For a qualifying planned absence, Regulation 14 ordinarily requires notice at least 28 days before it starts; CQC may agree a shorter period. An emergency absence has a five-working-day notification period. Return after a qualifying absence must be notified within seven working days.

Other notification duties use different wording, including without delay or as soon as reasonably practicable. Do not turn these into a blanket seven-day or monthly reporting rule. A routine governance meeting should not postpone an urgent notification.

CQC looks for

Use CQC's current forms and the route specified for the notification. The provider portal supports selected notifications; others require email. Certain NHS organisations have defined arrangements for particular notifications through Learn from Patient Safety Events, which should not be generalised to every provider or incident.

Delegating completion does not remove the registered person's responsibility. Maintain clear cover when the usual person is absent and a record showing what was submitted, when and by whom.

Other law requires

A CQC notification does not necessarily satisfy safeguarding, police, health-and-safety, coroner or data-breach reporting duties. Nor does it replace the separate duty-of-candour process where that duty applies. Assess each route on its own legal trigger.

Use the identification information the particular CQC form requires. Most service-user notifications use a unique code to minimise personal information, but there are exceptions, including the death of a detained mental-health patient.

Our recommendation

Keep an incident decision log with the facts known, rule checked, decision-maker, notification route, submission evidence and follow-up. Record the reason when a notification is considered unnecessary and revisit it if new information changes the position.

Build the process around immediate protection and reliable escalation. An internal investigation can continue after a notification; waiting for complete certainty may be inconsistent with the applicable deadline.

Evidence checklist

• Current notification responsibility and absence-cover arrangements.
• Event log with rule, timescale and decision rationale.
• Latest official form or portal submission record.
• Evidence of dispatch, acknowledgements and follow-up requests.
• Separate safeguarding, candour and other reporting decisions.
• Secure mapping of service-user codes where required.
• Periodic review of missed, late or incorrectly routed notifications.

Common questions

Sources and review record

1. cqc.org.uk — Notifications↗ (opens in a new tab)
2. cqc.org.uk — Guidance↗ (opens in a new tab)
3. cqc.org.uk — Regs regulation 18↗ (opens in a new tab)
4. cqc.org.uk — Regulation 14↗ (opens in a new tab)
5. cqc.org.uk — Regulation 15↗ (opens in a new tab)
6. cqc.org.uk — Provider portal↗ (opens in a new tab)
7. cqc.org.uk — Regulation 20↗ (opens in a new tab)

Content version: 1 November 2026 · Next scheduled content review 1 December 2026. This is a content review date, not a monitoring service or a guarantee that a source will remain unchanged.