CQC registration belongs to the legal entity that carries on the care. A buyer applies in its own name and the seller cancels, with both applications timed to completion.
Carrying on a regulated activity without being registered is an offence under section 10 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. CQC registration is held by the provider, so it does not pass to a buyer with the building or the business.
CQC's guidance on buying, selling or transferring a registered business sets out the route. A buyer that is not registered submits a provider application quoting the seller's provider ID. A buyer that is already registered adds the home as a new location. A seller selling the whole business "must cancel your CQC provider registration".
CQC says "Both providers should make their applications around the same time" and that it completes registration once it has formal confirmation of completion. The sale contract, the funding and the registration all work to the same completion date.
The same rule applies when an owner moves a home from a sole trader or partnership into a limited company. CQC's guidance on changing your registered business type says "You will need to complete the provider application again."
Regulation 13 of the CQC (Registration) Regulations 2009 requires a registered provider to take all reasonable steps to ensure the financial viability of the regulated activity. A buyer funding a purchase with borrowing works from cash flow forecasts showing the home can meet loan payments, wages and running costs at the expected occupancy and fee rates.
We prepare purchase forecasts, check the seller's accounts and fee income by funding source, and set up the new entity's books and payroll from completion. More on buying or selling a care business.
No. Registration belongs to the provider, the legal entity carrying on the regulated activity.
A registered buyer adds the home as a new location, under CQC's guidance on buying, selling or transferring a registered business.
The £500,000 lifetime limit from April 2027 and what it does to the tax on a sale.
Ofsted registration for the buyer, and the seller's responsibility until it resigns.
Rising insolvencies in residential care and what regulation 13 requires.
We look at your last accounts, your payroll hours and your fee rates, and tell you what we would change.