The notification email arrives. You have between 24 and 48 hours' notice for a standard inspection, sometimes less. Here is what to do.
This is not a theoretical checklist. It is based on direct experience of CQC inspections - what inspectors actually ask, what they actually look at, and where agencies that should do well sometimes fall short.
As Soon As You Get the Notification
Confirm the logistics
Reply to CQC to confirm the inspection date, time, and who will be present. Make sure your registered manager will be available for the full duration - inspectors expect to speak with the RM directly. If you have a nominated individual who is different from the RM, inform them too.
Alert your team
Tell your office team and senior care workers. Do not panic them - brief them calmly. Remind them that an inspection is about demonstrating what you already do. Staff who are anxious give inconsistent answers. Staff who are calm and well-briefed give the inspector confidence.
Check your CQC profile
Log into the CQC provider portal and check that your registration details are current - registered manager, nominated individual, regulated activities, service user bands, and geographical area. Anything out of date needs to be flagged and if possible updated before the inspection.
Your Policy Folder - Check These First
CQC inspectors will ask to see your policies. They may ask for specific ones or they may ask to browse your complete policy folder. Either way, every policy must be:
- Current - reviewed within the last 12 months or sooner if legislation has changed
- Signed and dated by the registered manager
- Personalised to your agency - not generic templates
- Consistent with each other - your safeguarding policy and your whistleblowing policy should cross-reference each other
- Accessible - staff must be able to find and read them, not locked in a filing cabinet
The policies inspectors request most frequently:
- Safeguarding Adults Policy
- Medication Administration Policy
- Mental Capacity Act Policy
- Lone Working Policy
- Infection Prevention and Control Policy
- Complaints Policy
- Duty of Candour Policy
- Recruitment Policy
Staff Records - What Inspectors Check
Inspectors will ask to see a sample of staff files. For each file they will look for:
- Enhanced DBS certificate - dated within three years or on the update service
- Right to work evidence - passport or visa documentation
- Two references - at least one from the most recent employer
- Signed contract of employment
- Induction record - including Care Certificate if applicable
- Training record - showing all mandatory training completed and up to date
- Supervision records - minimum six-monthly, documented
- Annual appraisal record
Before the inspection, pull five staff files at random and check each one against this list. If anything is missing, address it immediately.
Service User Records - What Inspectors Look At
Inspectors will select a sample of service user records. They will look for:
- A completed care needs assessment
- A personalised, person-centred care plan - not a generic template
- Risk assessments covering relevant risks - falls, pressure ulcers, medication, moving and handling, environment
- Evidence that the service user and where appropriate their family have been involved in care planning
- Review records showing the care plan has been reviewed regularly
- Mental capacity assessment where relevant
- Consent documentation
- Medication Administration Records if applicable - checked for gaps and errors
- Communication preferences documented
- Emergency contact details
What Inspectors Ask Care Workers
Inspectors will speak with care workers - sometimes by phone if workers are out in the community. The questions they ask most often:
On safeguarding: "What would you do if you were concerned about a service user's safety?" The correct answer includes: report to the registered manager, document what you observed, and if immediate risk call 999. It does not include: investigate yourself, ask the family, or wait and see.
On medication: "What do you do if you make a medication error?" Must include: tell the registered manager immediately, document it, complete an incident report, and follow the agency's medication error procedure.
On mental capacity: "What do you do if a service user refuses care?" Must reference the Mental Capacity Act - assume capacity, explain the risks clearly, document the refusal, and report to the registered manager.
On lone working: "What do you do if you feel unsafe during a visit?" Must reference your agency's lone working procedure - code word, check-in system, or whatever your policy specifies.
Brief your staff on these questions before the inspection. Not to script their answers - inspectors see through scripted answers immediately - but to make sure they know your procedures well enough to answer naturally.
Your Evidence Folder
Prepare a dedicated evidence folder - physical or digital - that you can bring to the inspection. Include:
- Last 12 months of supervision records - summarised by staff member
- Training compliance matrix - all staff, all mandatory training, dates completed
- Complaints log - including outcome and learning for each complaint
- Compliments log
- Incident and accident log - including any safeguarding referrals and their outcomes
- Audit records - medication audits, care plan audits, spot checks
- Service user satisfaction survey results
- Staff satisfaction survey results
- Any CQC correspondence since your last inspection
- Evidence of any quality improvement work completed
Organisation matters as much as content. Whether you use a physical ring binder or a digital folder on a tablet, use a consistent naming convention for every document - for example, "2026-03-15_Medication_Audit_March" rather than "audit doc v2 final." Arrange everything in chronological order within each category so inspectors can quickly trace a timeline. If using a digital folder, ensure you have offline access - you cannot rely on Wi-Fi during an inspection. Many registered managers find it helpful to create a one-page contents summary at the front, listing each section with the date range covered, so the inspector can navigate the folder independently. The easier you make it for the inspector to find evidence, the more confident they will be in your governance.
Outstanding Practice Evidence
If you want to achieve Outstanding - and you should, because it protects your contracts and your reputation - you need to demonstrate that you go beyond what is required. Inspectors are specifically looking for:
- Measurable outcomes for service users - not just that you provide good care but evidence that people's lives are better because of your service
- Learning culture - evidence that when things go wrong you learn from them and improve
- Innovation - things you do that are above and beyond the standard
- Partnership working - evidence of proactive engagement with local authority, NHS, and community organisations
- Staff wellbeing - evidence that you invest in your workforce beyond the minimum
What Happens on Inspection Day
A typical domiciliary care inspection lasts one to two days. The inspector will usually arrive at your office in the morning, spend time reviewing documents and records, then contact care workers and service users by phone during the afternoon. Some inspections include announced or unannounced accompanied visits where the inspector goes with a care worker to observe care delivery.
The inspector will follow the structure of the Single Assessment Framework - gathering evidence under each of the five key questions. They will triangulate what your policies say, what your records show, and what people tell them. Consistency across all three is what they are looking for.
Be honest. If something is not perfect, acknowledge it and show what you are doing about it. Inspectors respond much better to a registered manager who says "we identified this gap and here is our improvement plan" than to one who tries to hide problems. Transparency is a strong Well-Led signal.
After the Inspection
CQC will send you a draft report within approximately 10 working days. You have the opportunity to check it for factual accuracy before it is published. This is your chance to correct any errors of fact - not to argue with judgements, but to ensure the evidence cited is accurate.
Once published on the CQC website, your rating is public. If you receive Requires Improvement, CQC will typically re-inspect within 12 months. If you receive Inadequate, enforcement action may follow - including conditions on your registration, suspension, or cancellation.
Whatever your rating, treat the report as a development plan. The findings tell you exactly what to improve and which regulations to focus on.
It is also worth setting aside a quiet, private room where the inspector can work, review documents, and conduct confidential conversations with staff and service users without interruption. Having this space prepared in advance shows professionalism and removes a common source of disruption on the day.
The Night Before
Get some sleep. Seriously. A tired registered manager in an inspection is a liability. You know your service. You know your staff. You know your service users. The inspection is the opportunity to show someone else what you already know.
If your policies are out of date, generic, or incomplete - that is the one thing you can fix quickly. CareDocPro generates current, personalised, CQC-standard policies in minutes. Every document references the correct regulations, names your registered manager, and includes your local authority details.