CQC section 31 urgent action support

We know how this feels

A section 31 notice doesn't give you time to absorb it. By the time you've read it once, it already applies. A regulated activity may have to stop at one location, or your whole registration may be suspended. Staff want to know what they can do on tonight's shift.

It's hard not to take it personally. Your team does hundreds of things right every day, and one incident, or one missing set of records, has put the whole service under an emergency order. Owners we've supported have called enforcement life-changing, and section 31 is enforcement at its sharpest.

We won't soften it. This is CQC's most urgent response. It isn't the end of your service, though. In our experience, providers who comply straight away, acknowledge the problem and get experienced help in fast come through it far better than those who argue first.

What is a CQC section 31 notice?

A section 31 notice is CQC using its urgent powers against your registration. The suspension or conditions in the notice take effect from the time CQC gives the notice, so you comply now and challenge it afterwards.

Section 31 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 lets CQC suspend a registration, extend a suspension, or impose, vary or remove a condition, with effect from the time it gives the notice. CQC can use the power when it has reasonable cause to believe that, unless it acts, any person will or may be exposed to the risk of harm. The notice must give CQC's reasons, set out the condition or suspension period, and explain your right of appeal.

Section 31 cannot cancel a registration. Urgent cancellation needs a magistrates' court order under section 30, covered further down this page.

This page is general information, not legal advice.

Why is a section 31 notice so serious?

Because it's already happening. Urgent suspension or conditions apply at once. A Notice of Proposal gives you a chance to respond before anything changes. Section 31 skips that. You get no Notice of Proposal first and no chance to make representations.

An appeal won't pause it either. CQC says its decision remains in place unless and until the Tribunal decides otherwise.

It goes public. Unless the Tribunal overturns it, CQC must publish the suspension or urgent conditions once the appeal window closes or the appeal ends. Commissioners, families and your own staff will read it. Win the appeal and it stays off the record.

Where failings are serious, CQC's response may not stop at the notice. It can also prosecute alongside its urgent powers. Breaching the notice itself is a criminal offence, even where the original concern wasn't.

In CQC's enforcement decision tree, urgent suspension and urgent conditions are the actions for breaches at the top of its seriousness scale, which CQC labels extreme. The only urgent step CQC can't take on its own is cancellation, which needs a magistrate.

Why has CQC come down this hard?

CQC sees everything through risk. Its decision tree tells staff to rate each breach on two things: what would happen if it were repeated, and how likely a repeat is.

An extreme rating needs the worst answer to both. The impact is major, meaning a repeat would cause a serious risk to someone's life, health or wellbeing. The likelihood is probable, because the control measures in place are insufficient or ineffective.

In our experience, CQC doesn't see one incident as one incident. If a care plan wasn't followed for one person, it asks what stops the same thing happening to someone else tonight, and what else isn't being done. That's how CQC can go from nought to a hundred.

The likelihood half is where your evidence counts. CQC's guidance says likelihood should be based on the control measures you have in place, including changes in practice such as recruiting additional staff or replacing equipment. Every fix you make and record this week goes straight to that question.

Why is this so hard to handle on your own?

Because of the sheer volume of work, and it all lands at once. You still have to run a safe service on every shift, inside new limits, with worried staff and families. At the same time you're introducing structures, processes and safeguards that may not have existed before, putting improvements in place and showing CQC that they work.

In the middle of that, it can be almost impossible to see the wood for the trees. Which of CQC's reasons matter most? What has to change tonight, and what can wait until next week? Is the evidence you're gathering the evidence CQC needs to see?

It's emotional too. People who care deeply about their service feel judged, and the pressure comes from CQC, commissioners, families and your own team all at once.

How we step in

Our team brings clarity, experience and immediate operational support. We step into the service and manage the turnaround with you. We reassure CQC and your wider team, set clear priorities and carry out a plan to put improvements in place and evidence them.

Our role is to restructure the service to meet CQC's requirements, and to make sure every improvement is implemented, embedded and evidenced properly within tight deadlines. We usually work alongside your Registered Manager, Nominated Individual and leadership team. If the service has lost its manager, we can provide experienced interim cover.

A case study

An established adult social care provider with a long record of Good ratings was served a Notice of Proposal to cancel its registration, and its Registered Manager then left without notice. It called us on a Friday morning. By the following Monday we had an experienced interim manager in the service, and our governance team was building the formal reply.

That case came through the proposal route. Under section 31 the same work happens while the notice already applies.

Read the full case study

What happens after you appeal?

Urgent appeals can move quickly. CQC says an urgent notice must explain a fast-track option it has agreed with the Tribunal, so read that part closely. The Tribunal's response form gives CQC 3 working days to respond to an urgent appeal, against 20 working days for other appeals.

CQC must respond to your appeal, faster in urgent cases. The Tribunal then arranges a conference call with you, the judge and CQC, and the judge sets a date for the hearing. The notice stays in force throughout.

If it goes to a hearing, a judge and two specialist members hear the case, and a lawyer represents CQC. The Tribunal can confirm the decision or direct that it is to cease to have effect. It can also vary discretionary conditions and the length of a suspension.

If you and CQC reach agreement before the end of the hearing, you can ask the Tribunal to dispose of the appeal with a consent order.

Our legal partners can handle the appeal. Our part is the service: showing CQC, and the Tribunal if it gets that far, that the risk is under control and the improvements are holding.

How tribunal appeals work

What happens if you ignore it

Breaching a condition without reasonable excuse is an offence under section 33 of the Act. Carrying on a regulated activity while suspended is an offence under section 34. Both can lead to a fine with no upper limit. CQC can instead offer a penalty notice, which for a provider is £4,000 for either offence.

CQC says these are offences even where the breach behind the conditions or suspension was not itself a crime. That's why complying from the first shift matters so much.

Section 30: urgent cancellation by a magistrates' court order

For urgent cancellation, CQC must apply to a magistrate (a justice of the peace) under section 30. The magistrate can make an order cancelling a provider's or manager's registration if it appears that, unless the order is made, there will be a serious risk to a person's life, health or well-being. The order takes effect from the time it is made.

CQC can apply without telling you first, if the magistrate thinks fit. CQC's policy is to warn the provider where reasonably practicable, and to apply without notice only in exceptional circumstances, such as when it does not know where the provider is. There is no Notice of Proposal first.

CQC must serve a copy of the order on you as soon as practicable, with notice of your right of appeal. You must stop carrying on the regulated activity from the time the order is made. You cannot appeal to the magistrates' court. Your appeal goes to the First-tier Tribunal, within 28 days after service of the order (work from the date of the order if that is earlier), and the Tribunal can confirm the order or direct that it ceases to have effect.

Carrying on after cancellation is an offence under section 10, carrying on without registration. On conviction it can mean a fine, imprisonment or both. It goes public too. Unless the Tribunal overturns the order, CQC must publish the cancellation once the appeal window closes or the appeal ends.

A section 30 order is as serious as it gets. Call us the same day. We'll bring in our trusted legal partners for legal advice, and help you agree safe arrangements for the people in your care with your commissioners.