OrCore Compliance
How to register with CQC, and where your policies fit
CQC is the regulator, and its own guidance is the place to read how registration works.
CQC's own pages
- What is registration?
- Register as a provider
- How to apply (personal care registration for homecare agencies)
- Documents everyone must send
- Outcome of your application
OrCore doesn't explain or interpret CQC's requirements, and a link is not an endorsement.
CQC says you need to register with it if you plan to provide a regulated activity in England. If you plan to offer services in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland too, CQC says you may have to register with the relevant regulator there as well (CQC: Register as a provider).
The part OrCore covers
Your policies are one part of your application. OrCore Compliance helps you write your CQC policies from how you actually work. You apply to CQC yourself, and CQC makes its own decisions.
How OrCore Compliance works
- You answer fixed questions about your business on a screen. Most questions ask you to describe what you do in your own words.
- Your answers fill OrCore's master policies, so the drafts describe your service in your own terms.
- You read each draft policy, change anything that isn't right, and sign it off as your own. Nothing is final until you have.
A typical home care business answers about 618 questions. The exact number depends on your service, because questions that don't apply to you are left out. Allow around six to eight hours in total. Most people spread it over several sittings.
What OrCore does not do
OrCore does not give advice. The questions record what you tell us your business does. They don't tell you how to run your service, and they don't set any standard or figure. For advice about your own service, please speak to a qualified specialist of your choice.
No guarantee of registration. CQC makes its own decision on every application, and nobody can promise an outcome. Your policies are one part of your application, and you are responsible for checking that each one describes how your business really works.