Hiring a registered manager: what to plan for

A registered manager shares legal responsibility with the provider for meeting the regulations. Regulation 7 sets out what CQC expects of them. They must be of good character, able to do the job with reasonable adjustments, and have the qualifications, competence, skills and experience to manage the regulated activity. The same Schedule 3 information applies to them as to any other employee. Our guide to pre-employment checks for care staff lists each item.

You are choosing the person CQC will hold accountable alongside you.

The care workforce pathway says registered managers must have or be working towards a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management, or an equivalent.

CQC looks at the whole picture. The certificate is one part of it. A registered nurse with NMC registration, or a social worker registered with Social Work England, brings professional standards of their own. Relevant management experience counts. Ask candidates without the diploma how far they are through it, and how they will finish it alongside the job.

Once employed, the manager applies to CQC to be registered for your location. The application includes a DBS check processed through CQC's own route, and CQC may interview the applicant as part of its assessment.

CQC does not guarantee a timescale. Build time for registration into your plan, and keep the service properly led while the application is assessed. Many managers start in post and apply straight away. If your circumstances are unusual, talk to CQC's registration team early.

Registered providers must notify CQC if a registered manager will be absent for 28 days or more, and when a registered manager stops managing the regulated activity. CQC's notification guidance sets out the forms and timings.

Agree who will lead the service in the gap. A deputy acting up needs clear authority, support from above and a date when the arrangement will be reviewed.

• Inspection history. What did their last inspection find, and what did they change afterwards?
• Safeguarding. Walk through a concern they handled, from first report to outcome.
• Staffing. How do they decide staffing levels, and what have they done when the rota would not cover?
• The CQC interview. How would they prepare for it? Their answer shows how well they know the regulations.
• Your service. After a visit, what would they look at first?

Take references from their line manager and from someone they managed. The second one often tells you more.

A new manager inherits a team, a set of habits and an inspection history. The first months decide whether they stay.

• Agree a handover, even a short one, with whoever has been covering.
• Book regular supervision with their line manager from the first week.
• Be clear about which decisions are theirs and which need sign-off.
• Point them to a peer network. Skills for Care runs registered manager networks across England.

Experienced managers usually have longer notice periods than frontline staff. Check before you agree a start date.

A good manager leaving is a problem for their current employer, so a counter-offer is likely. Ask early what would make them stay. If they are moving for a reason money will not fix, such as the culture or the support above them, the move is more likely to hold.

• CQC: Regulation 7, requirements relating to registered managers
• GOV.UK: Care workforce pathway, registered manager role category
• CQC: Regulation 14, notice of absence
• CQC: Employment requirements under Regulation 19 and Schedule 3 (PDF)