CQC inspection checklist 2026: what to get in order before an assessment

When a CQC assessment is coming, the question is simple: can you put your hands on the evidence, and does it reflect how the service actually runs? This checklist is the focused version — the things to get in order and the documents assessors ask for first. For the full method, including how to run a proper mock inspection, see our step-by-step guide on how to prepare for a CQC inspection. This one is designed to be worked through quickly when you need to know where you stand.

Start with an honest self-assessment

Before touching a single folder, work through the five key questions — Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, Well-led — and mark, honestly, where you fully meet the standard, partly meet it, or have a gap. This single step is the most valuable thing you can do, because it tells you exactly where your remaining time should go. A self-assessment that reassures you is not doing its job; one that makes you slightly uncomfortable is working. Be as hard on yourself as an assessor would be, because the alternative is that they find the gaps for you.

Have these ready

These are the staples assessors will expect to see, and the ones most likely to be found wanting if they have drifted:

• Current building safety certificates: fire, legionella, gas, electrical (EICR), hoist and lifting equipment (LOLER).
• Mandatory training up to date for every member of staff, with no quiet expiries in the matrix.
• Complete staff files: DBS, right to work, references, supervision and appraisal.
• Current, acknowledged policies that staff can show they have read.
• Recent audits — medicines, care plans, infection control — with their actions closed off.
• Incidents, complaints and safeguarding logged with clear, dated outcomes.
• Evidence of statutory notifications made to CQC for the events that required them.

The documents assessors ask for first

Expect specific, on-the-spot requests: a named person's current risk assessment, one member of staff's full training record, a recent medicines audit with its actions. Time how long each takes to produce. If it is more than a few minutes, that is a finding in itself — and it is one of the easiest things to fix before an assessment ever happens, because it is about organisation, not care quality. Being able to produce evidence quickly is itself read as a sign of a well-run service.

Run a mock inspection

Walk the service as an assessor would, and become the visitor rather than the manager for an hour. Observe a mealtime or a medication round and ask whether what you see matches what your policies say should happen. Talk to staff and to people who use the service, and listen for whether the culture you describe on paper is the one they actually experience. Then pick three things at random and test whether you can produce the evidence on request. Write down everything the mock inspection surfaces, without softening it, and turn each gap into an owned, dated action. The point is not to reassure yourself that you would pass; it is to find the things you would rather not find, while there is still time to fix them.

Common reasons services get caught out

A handful of avoidable problems come up again and again: preparing only when notice arrives, so there is no run-up; good practice with poor evidence, so genuine quality cannot be shown quickly; an empty complaints log that signals unrecorded concerns; training that has quietly lapsed; and a defensive manager who claims everything is perfect rather than knowing their risks and showing a plan. Being aware of these is half the battle, because each is easier to prevent than to explain away.

Make it a daily state

The best preparation is not a scramble when notice arrives — it is being ready every day, because training never lapses, certificates are renewed on time, audits happen on schedule, and the evidence is always current. That is exactly what CQC inspection readiness software keeps live for you, with a one-click evidence pack when you need it. Complys helps you organise and evidence your readiness; it does not certify your service or submit your notifications. Used well, it turns the checklist above from a periodic panic into the ordinary, quiet state of the service.