PIR guidance: common questions

The PIR is an important opportunity for you to share information and evidence with us about your service. We use information in the PIR to monitor services. It is not a pre-inspection document. It can help with planning inspections along with other sources of evidence. Judgements about the overall quality and ratings of services are not based on the PIR. They are based on information gathered across the whole inspection process.

Providers may feel disadvantaged if unable to submit a PIR shortly before inspection. Registered managers or equivalent, should be familiar with:

• the five key questions we ask
• key lines of enquiry (KLOEs)
• characteristics of ratings.

These will help support the narrative a service may wish to share when we inspect.

A late or non-return of the requested PIR may mean a ratings limiter is applied to the well-led question.

There are cases where printed PIRs are submitted directly to inspectors. You must submit it online. If you submit a printed PIR there will be no record on our systems of its completion.

The email may have been filtered out by your spam filter or sent to a ‘junk’ folder. Please check this first. If you still cannot find the email, contact ASCinspections@cqc.org.uk

We can confirm the email address we used.

If the address or contact details we hold for you are incorrect or have changed you may not receive a PIR request. Registered providers must notify us when:

• their registration details or
• email address for service of documents change.

To update contact details, you need to submit a Changes to registered details: provider's name and address – notification form.

Yes. New PIRs are required where ownership of the service is taken over by a new provider. For example, a new company set up to do so. Existing PIRs submitted by the previous provider can no longer be accepted. In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to accept an existing PIR. Only if there are extenuating circumstances to show why you cannot submit a new PIR. For example, where there is a transfer of legal ownership but there are no changes to the:

• service
• service provision
• policies and procedures
• registered manager
• staff.

When we send a PIR request, a notification is also sent to the Nominated Individual. They can reply with an alternative email address and manage the request.

The letter sent to the Nominated Individual is for information only. It is the Registered Manager who receives the PIR form to complete. In some cases, the Nominated Individual and the Registered Manager is the same.

The Nominated Individual is sent a link. It enables them to update the Registered Manager details if they are no longer correct. The link provided in the email is only a temporary solution. You still need to submit a Changes to registered details: provider's name and address – notification form. This to permanently update the contact details.

This is correct if you provide a dual service to any of the following types:F

• residential
• community
• shared lives
• specialist colleges.

Only a registered person from the service can be sent the PIR to complete.

No. We cannot provide a paper version to fill in. It is an online form. This is so we can efficiently store, analyse and report on the data returned by providers. The only exceptional circumstances are:

• your service does not have internet access. For example, there is no broadband coverage in the area. We ask you to arrange your own transcribing. 
• you need reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act. 

Use the link in the Registered Manager letter. Not the Nominated Individual letter. If you need help email ASCinspections@cqc.org.uk

This information was checked before sending out requests to complete PIRs. It should be correct. Email ASCinspections@cqc.org.uk and we will investigate.

Use the link in the email when completing the PIR form. If you share this form it could cause problems with the form or delays in managing the information. A registered person will always need to fill in the PIR.

You must answer all mandatory questions on each page before you can move on to the next. The PIR guidance and list of questions document help you gather relevant information before completing the PIR.

We are looking for a snapshot of the service. We only request concise answers. The inspector can follow up on information given if needed.

Where you find your latest inspection report on our website, you will see a tab that says ‘Reports’. Scroll down to find your earliest reports. The first site visit date is the date of the earliest report. Some older services when they scroll to the bottom will see ‘Reports under our old system’. Reports under this heading should be ignored when determining the first site visit date.

If you provide multiple services and would like dates for all your services, send a request to ASCinspections@cqc.org.uk

This information can only be given to active contacts in a regulatory role.

This may be because you:

• haven’t pressed the ‘submit’ button. So, while it is complete and saved it hasn’t been submitted
• have input an incorrect email address in the PIR form. So, the receipt has been sent to the wrong email address.

If you can still press submit, check the email address you are submitting. Then click ‘submit’.

We will check the online system to see if the form has been submitted. We can send a PDF of the PIR to locations where the receipt has been misdirected. This needs to be on a case-by-case basis.

All extension requests are at the inspector’s discretion. Contact the inspector directly. We need to know if an extension is granted so copy in ASCinspections@cqc.org.uk to your request.

The PIR can only be printed up to the point that you have completed the form. To do this you would need to print screen each page. The final summary page displays all entries made within the form. This allows you to print your responses before submitting or reviewing them. When you submit the form you will get a confirmation email. The email includes all your entries.

No. When you submit the PIR the information is automatically sent to our systems.