28 March 2013
Following consultation with services, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published details of the fees to be paid by providers, including newly registered NHS primary medical services (GP practices) from 1 April 2013.
All services registered with the CQC are required under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to pay fees to cover the cost of registration and inspection.
The new fee structures have been approved by the Secretary of State for Health, and reflect government guidance that the CQC must recover the costs of regulation from providers.
Changes to the fees scheme include:
- updated descriptions of the fee categories to better reflect how the health and social care sectors are organised
- extending the scheme to include the fees primary medical services, including NHS GP providers, will pay when they come under CQC regulation on 1 April 2013. Practices operating from a single location will be charged on a scale from £550 - £850 based on the number of registered patients on their lists. Practices with more than one location will be charged based on the number of locations, irrespective of the number of patients on their list
- changes to the fee structure for primary dental services to make charges fairer, for example, smaller dental providers with less than six locations whose fees are now £800 per location
- a decrease in the fees for individuals who provide diagnostic services from a single location
- a change to the category and fee levels for NHS out of hours providers
- extending the scheme from 1 October 2013, to include independent midwives who will pay £800 for each location they operate from.
There will be no changes to fees for NHS trusts and adult social care services, and most independent healthcare services.
CQC has decided not to implement the proposed increase in fees for single specialty independent hospitals, as a result of the feedback received.
CQC chief executive, David Behan, said: “Our purpose is to ensure people receive services which are safe and of high quality.
“We inspect hospitals and care homes at least once a year. Other services are inspected less regularly.
“This report set out the fees for regulation from 1 April 2013.
“We would like to thank the providers, organisations and individuals who took part in the consultation.
“We have managed to keep the majority of fees unchanged this year, and introduced fees for GPs who are new to regulation, at 50% of estimated costs on a sliding scale so that small practices pay less than large ones.
“We have set up a new Fees Advisory Panel involving membership organisations from all the sectors that we regulate. This panel will help guide our approach as we develop proposals for future years.”
Our response to the consultation, our legal fees scheme and other fees documents are published on our webpage about Fees.
CQC will carry out another public consultation in the autumn of this year, which will consider the next set of changes to the fees scheme for 2014/15.
Notes to editors
Calculate your annual fee
If you're a registered provider, visit our webpage on Fees to calculate the amount you will need to pay.
You will need to pay this fee on the same date ever year, and it will cover all registration and compliance requirements for all locations.