Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the CQC is taking to ensure that care company managers and their associates are not able to (a) re-establish care businesses and (b) receive a license if their reason for closure was non-payment of wages or pensions.

Service providers must register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which must be satisfied about their fitness and compliance with the requirements of the relevant regulations and enactments. As part of the registration process, the CQC will consider whether the applicant has been registered previously under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 or predecessor legislation. In such cases their regulatory history is taken into account when assessing a new application for registration.

Should there be a concern about the past non-payment of wages or pensions, the CQC would consider this alongside any other relevant regulatory history in coming to a judgement about the applicant’s compliance and likely continued compliance with the requirements. However, the payment of wages and pensions is principally a matter between an employer and its employees.