Changes In Regulatory Fees For Providers Confirmed

Following a public consultation last year, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has outlined the fees that providers of health and adult social care in England will be charged from April 2017 to recover the costs of their regulation.

CQC’s regulatory functions are funded both by fees paid by providers and by grant-in-aid from the Department of Health. Government policy requires CQC to move towards full chargeable cost recovery (FCCR) for all health and adult social care providers in England that it regulates. Over the last few years, CQC’s fees have been increasing and grant-in-aid reducing to achieve FCCR for all sectors.

CQC is making savings over the period to 2019/20. In 2015/16, their budget was £249 million. The budget for 2019/20 will be £217 million, a reduction of £32 million. During 2016/17, CQC has made over £10 million in efficiency savings.

The amounts that providers will pay for their regulation will depend on the type of health or social care they offer, as well as how close their sector is already to meeting the chargeable cost of their regulation in full. Examples of the changes providers can expect to fees in 2017/18 include:

• £163 increase for a care home with 26-30 residents to £4,375 a year.
• £823 increase for a single-location community social care provider (such as a home-care agency) to £2,192 a year.
• £65,375 increase for a NHS trust with an income of £125 million to £225 million to £202,239 a year.
• £1,952 increase for a single-location GP practice with 5,001-10,000 patients to £4,526 a year.
• £113 decrease for a single-location dental practice with four chairs to £837 a year.

CQC’s fees for 2017/18 represent 0.16% of overall indicative turnover of the health and social care market.

David Behan, Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission, said: “The public are entitled to health and care which is safe, effective, high-quality and compassionate.

“All providers of health and care must be registered in order to provide services. CQC provides the public with independent assurance that services are operating in their interests. The fee paid by providers is the charge for being registered with CQC.”