CQC inspection checklist 2026: the evidence to have ready (non-clinical)

A CQC inspection checks how well people are cared for, and much of that is clinical and observational: how staff speak to residents, how medicines are given, how care plans reflect what people want. Your care-records system holds that side. This checklist covers the rest: the staffing, training, premises and governance evidence that sits in rotas, files and folders, and is usually the hardest to pull together quickly.

It's written for care homes, nursing homes and home care in England. Use it monthly, not just when you think an inspection is due. Running a service in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland? The regulator and framework are different: see the section near the end.

What's changing at CQC in 2026

CQC consulted in 2025 and 2026 on how it assesses services. Its response says it will stop using the 34 quality statements and bring back separate assessment frameworks for each main sector, built around key lines of enquiry. The draft adult social care framework has 24 of them. Pilots ran between June and October 2026, and in its August 2026 update CQC said it would carry on engaging with each sector over the autumn. As of October 2026, the final frameworks and a start date hadn't been published.

What doesn't change:

• The five key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. Ratings are still given against them.
• The four ratings: outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.
• The law: the fundamental standards in the 2014 Regulations, and the notification duties in the 2009 Registration Regulations.

So the evidence below stays valid whatever the final framework looks like. Organise it under the five key questions and it will map onto the new key lines of enquiry when they arrive.

Safe

Staffing (Regulation 18)

• Your staffing levels policy and current dependency assessment, showing how you decided numbers and skill mix for each period.
• Published rotas for at least the last few months, showing actual staff on duty, including bank and agency, against those levels.
• How you cover gaps: bank list, agency arrangements, on-call.
• For nursing homes: a registered nurse on every period, and NMC registration checks.

Recruitment checks (Regulation 19 and Schedule 3)

For every member of staff, including bank and agency, confirmed before they started:

• Proof of identity, including a recent photograph.
• An enhanced DBS check, with adults' barred list information where the role needs it.
• Satisfactory evidence of conduct in previous health or social care work, or work with children or vulnerable adults, and why it ended.
• Evidence of relevant qualifications.
• A full employment history with a written explanation of any gaps.
• Information about any relevant health conditions.
• Separately (immigration law, not Schedule 3): right to work checks, with follow-up checks for time-limited permission.

Premises and equipment (Regulations 12 and 15)

• Fire risk assessment, reviewed, with actions completed.
• Weekly fire alarm tests, emergency lighting checks and fire drill records, including a night-time drill.
• Personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for residents who need them.
• Legionella risk assessment and water temperature records: sentinel outlets, TMVs, flushing of little-used outlets.
• LOLER thorough examinations of hoists and slings at least every 6 months (or under a written scheme), and pre-use checks.
• Bed rail risk assessments and checks.
• Gas appliance safety checks, electrical installation (EICR) and portable appliance records, as your risk assessments set out.
• Kitchen fridge and freezer temperatures, cleaning schedules and infection prevention and control audits.

Incidents and safeguarding

• Accident and incident log with actions and lessons learned.
• Safeguarding concerns and referrals.
• CQC statutory notifications sent, with dates, matching your incident log.

Effective

• An up-to-date training matrix, including Oliver McGowan learning disability and autism training, with a plan for anything overdue.
• Induction records and Care Certificate progress for new care workers.
• Supervision and appraisal records, signed and dated, at the frequency your policy sets.
• Competency checks for medication and moving and handling.

Caring and responsive

Most of this evidence comes from observation and from people's care records, but you should be able to show:

• A complaints procedure people can find and use, a complaints log with responses and outcomes, and what changed as a result (Regulation 16).
• Compliments and feedback from residents and families.
• Resident and relative meetings or surveys, and actions taken.

Well-led

Governance (Regulation 17)

• A schedule of audits (infection control, health and safety, environment, kitchen, medication process, care plans process, mattresses) with results, scores and action plans.
• Actions with owners and dates, followed through.
• Provider oversight: visits or reports by the owner or nominated individual.
• Records that are accurate, complete and up to date for each person, for staff, and for the management of the service.

Duty of candour (Regulation 20)

• Evidence that when something went wrong, people and families were told openly and given an apology, with records of what was said and when.

Staff engagement

• Team meetings, handovers and how staff raise concerns.

Not in England? CIW, the Care Inspectorate and RQIA

CQC only regulates in England. Most of the evidence above is still what other regulators ask for, but the law, the framework and the ratings differ:

Two practical differences: the pre-employment rules aren't Schedule 3 of the English Regulations (Wales has regulation 35 and Schedule 1 of its 2017 Regulations, for example), and each nation has its own notification rules. Our nation checklists go further: CIW inspection, Care Inspectorate inspection and RQIA inspection.

Five mistakes that cost ratings

1. Rotas that don't match the staffing policy. If your policy says three on nights and the rota shows two, that's what an inspector will see.
2. Checks done but not recorded. "We test the alarm every Friday" without a log is not evidence.
3. Audits without actions. A 72% score with no action plan reads worse than no audit.
4. Incidents not cross-checked with notifications. Inspectors compare the two.
5. Evidence held in one person's head. If the registered manager is on holiday, can the deputy find it?

How ShiftComplete helps

ShiftComplete for care keeps the non-clinical evidence in one place and builds an inspection pack from it. It doesn't make you compliant, and CQC doesn't approve software, but it does mean the evidence exists, is dated and named, and can be found in a minute.

• Rotas with minimum cover and required roles per period, and warnings for lapsed training, DBS or right to work.
• Training matrix, staff compliance file (DBS, right to work, visas, NMC PIN and revalidation) and supervisions signed on the phone.
• Daily and weekly care checks with photos and names, and certificate due dates for gas, EICR, PAT and LOLER.
• Care audits with scores and action lists, incidents with a CQC notification prompt, complaints and compliments.
• A one-click inspection pack for any date range, grouped under CQC's five key questions, with a full audit trail behind it.

It works alongside your care-records system (no care plans, eMAR or daily notes) and costs £2.49 per active staff member per month, with a 60-day free trial and no card needed. See how it works on our care homes page, or for domiciliary care, our home care page.