Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they will have with the Care Quality Commission about action that can be taken to prevent care homes from evicting residents because the resident, a relative or a friend has raised concerns about the standards of care.

The Department does not hold data on evictions from care homes as a result of raising concerns about standards of care.

Guidance on complying with the Consumer Protection Act issued by the Competition and Markets Authority advises that discrimination or victimisation against complainants, including through an eviction, is likely to breach consumer law. Where providers fail to treat residents and their representatives fairly and infringe consumer law, enforcers, residents, and other compliance partners may take action against them.

In addition, by law, all health and social care services must have a procedure for dealing efficiently with complaints, and anyone who has seen or experienced poor-quality care has the right to complain to the organisation that provided or paid for the care. If they are not satisfied with the way a provider or local authority has dealt with a complaint, they may escalate it to the local government and Social Care Ombudsman who can investigate individual concerns.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) also encourages the public to share their experience through an online feedback mechanism, called give feedback on care, which allows individuals to raise concerns about the services they receive from providers. While the CQC does not have power to intervene in decisions providers’ make to issue a ‘notice to quit’ they do review how providers handle complaints as part of their assessments. The CQC takes this matter seriously, and continues to look at ways to improve both their analysis of provider data and the incorporation of individual feedback into their assessments.