Regulation 20: Requirements relating to termination of pregnancies
Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/3112)
Last verified by Verivius on 19 May 2026. Next review due 17 Aug 2026.
Plain British summary
This regulation applies to non-NHS providers carrying on the regulated activity of terminations. Two certificates of opinion must be received before any termination is carried out or any fee accepted; certificates must be filed with the medical record; no termination may be performed after 20 weeks unless suitably qualified staff and emergency procedures are in place; no termination at all after 24 weeks. A register of terminations must be kept (with each entry made at the time of the procedure and retained at least 3 years); the total numbers must be recorded; each termination must be notified in writing to the Chief Medical Officer; and any death of a service user within 12 months that may be associated with a termination must be notified to CQC in writing within 14 days. This is distinct from HSCRA Reg 20 (Duty of Candour), different SI, different obligation.
Full text on legislation.gov.uk. Treat quotes on this page as targeted excerpts, not as a substitute for the regulation.
Targeted verbatim quotes (3)
“the registered person must ensure that, unless two certificates of opinion have been received in respect of the service user … no termination of pregnancy is carried out; and … no fee is demanded or accepted from a service user.”
Reg 20(2): two certificates of opinion required
“The registered person must ensure that no termination of a pregnancy is undertaken after the 24th week of gestation.”
Reg 20(5): 24-week absolute ceiling
“the registered person must give notice in writing to the Commission of that information, within the period of 14 days beginning on the day on which the information is received.”
Reg 20(10): 14-day window for death notification
What Verivius does for you
Out of scope for v1
Verivius does not currently target termination-of-pregnancy providers as a service-type pack. Providers in this regulated activity should treat this regulation alongside their existing clinical-governance systems. The 14-day post-termination death notification window can be tracked as an ad-hoc notifiable event in the statutory notifications register if needed.