Guide
Adult social care CQC compliance: policies, procedures and guidance
Care homes and residential services are judged on the safety of some of the most vulnerable people in any setting, around the clock. This guide gathers the policies, procedure checklists, regulations and articles an adult social care service has to get right, in one place.
What CQC weighs in adult social care
Adult social care is inspected under the same five key questions as every CQC-registered service, but residential and nursing homes carry a distinct evidence weight: the people are often among the most vulnerable, the care runs around the clock, and a single home can hold a wide spread of need.
That puts weight on safeguarding, Mental Capacity Act and deprivation-of-liberty decisions, falls and pressure-area management, nutrition and hydration, end-of-life care, and safe medicines administration recorded for every resident. The materials below are organised around that evidence trail.
Start with the guidance
Reads that frame what CQC inspectors actually look for in residential care.
CQC local authority assessments
What care providers should learn from CQC local authority assessments: safeguarding, prevention, unpaid carers, reviews, transitions and commissioning evidence.
Three small incidents, one real finding
A worked example from adult social care: how three minor medication errors, each closed on its own, hide one root cause, and how trend analysis turns them into a single managed risk.
Regulation 14: nutrition and hydration
Where it applies, what CQC tests for, and the nutrition and hydration evidence that holds up at inspection.
Policies for adult social care
5 sample policies written for residential and nursing care. Each is a starting point to adapt to your service, roles and local arrangements, not a document to adopt unchanged.
- Adult social care
End-of-life care policy (adult social care)
Sample end-of-life care policy for adult social care under Regulation 9 (person-centred care): recording wishes, ReSPECT, DNACPR and after-death reviews. Adapt it.
- Adult social care
Falls prevention and management policy (adult social care)
Falls prevention sample policy for adult social care, anchored to Regulation 12: falls risk assessment, post-fall response and pattern review. Adapt before use.
- Adult social care
Mental Capacity Act and DoLS policy (adult social care)
Mental Capacity Act and DoLS sample template for adult social care under Regulation 11 (consent): capacity, best interests and authorisation. Tailor it to your service.
- Adult social care
Care home medication policy template (adult social care)
Example adult social care medication policy template for care homes and residential services: MAR, refusals, covert administration, PRN medicines, controlled drugs and audit.
- Adult social care
Safeguarding adults policy (adult social care)
Safeguarding adults sample template built on Regulation 13 and Care Act 2014 section 42: spotting, reporting and learning from abuse. Adapt to your setting.
Checklists
Audit and readiness checklists to self-check a single area before an inspection.
- Reg 12
Care home medicines audit checklist
A care home medicines audit checklist for MAR, controlled drugs, covert administration, homely remedies, antimicrobial use and pain management.
- Reg 13
Safeguarding adults procedure checklist
A practical adult safeguarding checklist for small CQC-regulated providers, focused on referral routes, records, actions and learning.
The general checklists (incidents, infection control, consent, staffing, training) apply to care homes too. Browse the full checklist library.
The regulations that carry the most weight
The standards a residential service is most often tested against, each with the duty quoted from the primary source.
Regulation 9: person-centred care
Care shaped around the person, evidenced day to day.
Regulation 12: safe care and treatment
Safe care: risk, medicines, falls, moving and handling.
Regulation 13: safeguarding
Recognising and referring abuse and neglect.
Regulation 17: good governance
The living records that show the home is well-led.
Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
Capacity, best-interests and deprivation-of-liberty records.
Statutory notifications
What CQC has to be told about, and when.
See the adult social care setup in your service
The policies and checklists are free to download and adapt. Verivius loads the adult social care content into your account from day one, so safeguarding, Mental Capacity Act and deprivation-of-liberty decisions, falls, medication records and CQC notifications sit in one structured trail. A Verivius consultant (an ex-CQC inspector) can also work through any of this with you against the live regulation and your service shape.
Free to start, no card. A 14-day trial when you subscribe.
Last reviewed 14 July 2026