If your care home’s policies were written or bought before 2025, several of them now describe rules that no longer apply, and an inspector reading them will notice.
There is no official CQC list of policies a care home must have. The 2014 Regulations require systems and processes for safe care, safeguarding, complaints, staffing and governance, operated effectively, so a policy staff do not follow counts for little. A full care home set runs past 100 policies, and ten recent changes need to be in it.
Regulation 17(1) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 says: “Systems or processes must be established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements in this Part.” Regulation 13(2) says the same of safeguarding: “Systems and processes must be established and operated effectively to prevent abuse of service users.” Your written policies are where those systems are set down, and the first place an inspector or a commissioner looks to see whether you know what the law expects.
That is why a policy set ages badly. The regulations themselves have barely moved, but the case law and guidance under them have. Between April 2024 and October 2026 the rules on visiting, deprivation of liberty, falls, sepsis, infection prevention, sexual harassment at work and consumer contracts all changed, and two public bodies changed their names. A policy written in 2022 can be well drafted and still wrong.
Is there a legal list of policies a care home must have?
No. Neither the 2014 Regulations nor CQC’s guidance gives a fixed list. The regulations set outcomes, and some of them can only be met with written arrangements behind them.
Regulation 16, for example, requires an accessible system for receiving and responding to complaints, and if CQC asks for a summary of the complaints you have received and how you responded, it must have it within 28 days. Regulation 17(3) applies the same 28 days to a written report on your governance and improvement plans when CQC requests one. Failing to send either is an offence.
In practice, a care home needs a written policy wherever the law expects a process that every member of staff follows the same way, including night staff and agency workers who have never worked a shift with you before. That covers far more ground in a care home than in home care. The home is also a workplace, a kitchen, a building with fire risks, water systems and lifting equipment, and for many residents a place where their liberty is restricted.
What a complete care home policy set covers
The table below shows the nine areas a full set needs, with the number of policies in each section of the CuraFlow Care Home library as a guide to scale. The nursing section applies only to homes registered to provide nursing care.
| Area | What it covers | Policies |
|---|---|---|
| Governance, leadership and business | Registration and notifications, governance, delegation, business continuity, residents’ contracts and fees, duty of candour, whistleblowing, fit and proper persons | 16 |
| Human resources and workforce | Safer recruitment, DBS and right to work, staffing levels and rotas, supervision, conduct, employment law, staff wellbeing | 41 |
| Training and development | Mandatory training, Oliver McGowan training, the Care Certificate, competency for delegated healthcare activities, CPD | 6 |
| Care and support delivery | Admission, care planning, consent, mental capacity and DoLS, medicines, nutrition, falls, skin integrity, dementia, deterioration, end of life care, visiting, daily life | 54 |
| Safeguarding and protection | Safeguarding adults, allegations against staff, financial abuse, residents’ money, domestic abuse, modern slavery, self neglect, missing residents, unexplained injuries | 11 |
| Health, safety, premises and infection prevention | Fire, water safety and Legionella, bed rails, hoists, gas and electrical safety, food safety, laundry, cleaning, infection prevention and control | 27 |
| Information governance and records | Data protection, confidentiality, care records, subject access, information sharing, cyber security, CCTV | 11 |
| Quality and improvement | Incidents, complaints, audit and quality improvement | 6 |
| Nursing care (homes with nursing) | Nurse-led clinical care in homes registered to provide nursing | 16 |
Two things stand out. Care and support delivery is the biggest section by far, because that is where daily practice lives. And workforce comes second, because a care home employs staff around the clock, and employment law changed several times in 2026 alone.
Ten changes your care home policies need to reflect
Each row below is in force now. The third column is the quickest test: if your policy contains the old wording, it needs updating.
| Change | In force from | What to look for in your policies |
|---|---|---|
| Visiting became a fundamental standard (regulation 9A) | 6 April 2024 | Blanket restrictions on visits, or a visiting policy with nothing on visits at the end of life. Any restriction should be individual, proportionate and reviewed. |
| Consumer law for fees and contracts: Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Part 4 | 6 April 2025 | References to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which this replaced. |
| NICE guideline NG249 on falls | 29 April 2025 | A falls risk score that decides who gets assessed. NG249 says not to use falls risk prediction tools, and to offer every resident in a care home a comprehensive falls assessment. |
| NICE guideline NG253 on suspected sepsis in people aged 16 or over | 19 November 2025 | References to NG51, which NICE replaced. |
| The Supreme Court’s AGNI judgment on deprivation of liberty | 2 June 2026 | The Cheshire West “acid test”. The court replaced it with a multifactorial assessment. DoLS, and the duty to notify CQC of DoLS outcomes, carry on as before. |
| CQC enforcement policy | 25 June 2026 | “Requirement Notice”. CQC now issues an Action Plan request. |
| The Information Commission replaced the ICO (Data (Use and Access) Act 2025) | 30 September 2026 | “ICO” or “Information Commissioner’s Office” in data protection, CCTV and complaints policies. |
| The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman became the Public Service Ombudsman | 1 October 2026 | The old name in the complaints route for NHS-funded care. |
| A single UKHSA and DHSC infection prevention and control guide for adult social care | 28 October 2026 | The 2013 “Care homes: infection prevention and control” guide or the 2022 adult social care guide. Both are replaced. |
| Sexual harassment at work (Employment Rights Act 2025) | 30 October 2026 | “Reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment. The duty is now “all reasonable steps”, and the home is liable for harassment of staff by residents, relatives and visitors if it did not take them. |
None of these is obscure. Each is the kind of detail an inspector or a commissioner can check against the policy it touches, and a manager who has to say “that policy is out of date” has already lost the point the policy was meant to make.
How to check your own policies in an afternoon
- Search every document for the old wording in the table: “ICO”, “acid test”, “NG51”, “Requirement Notice”, “Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman” and “Unfair Trading Regulations”. Each hit is a policy to update.
- Check that each policy names your real arrangements: who is in charge at night, who leads on DoLS applications, your local Safeguarding Adults Board procedures, and your GP and pharmacy arrangements. A policy with blanks or another home’s details in it tells a reader nobody has used it.
- Check the review dates. A policy reviewed in a year when the law changed, with nothing changed in it, is harder to defend than one that is simply overdue.
- Check that staff have read the policies that matter to their role, and that you can show it. A signature sheet works. So does a portal that records each person’s acknowledgement.
- If you provide nursing, check that your nursing policies cover nurse registration and revalidation checks, clinical supervision and the clinical procedures your nurses actually carry out.
- Put policy review into your audit cycle so it happens on a date rather than after a finding. Our guide to the regulation 17 audit cycle shows where it fits.
The CuraFlow Care Home library
We built the CuraFlow Care Home library for exactly this. It has 188 policies in nine sections, written for CQC-registered care homes in England, with and without nursing. Every policy was checked against live legislation and current guidance in October and November 2026, so the ten changes above are already in it.
The nursing section, and two further policies on nurse revalidation and clinical supervision, apply only to homes with nursing. Everything else applies to every home. Each policy is a controlled Word document, and after you buy, your company name, registered manager, CQC ID and address are filled in on the cover and throughout every download.
The library also comes with 99 resources written for care homes: 22 risk assessments covering fire and evacuation, Legionella, bed rails, hoists, choking and more; 42 templates and forms, from the care plan and a controlled drugs stock check to a CQC notification checklist, duty of candour letters and a training matrix; 11 plain-language guides for managers; and 24 easy-read guides written for residents.
It costs £995 excluding VAT as a one-off purchase. You keep the policies, with no recurring fee and no per-user charge, and you get 90 days of free portal access for staff sign-off. Until 31 December 2026, the code CURAFLOW100 takes it to £895 at checkout. You can see every policy title and ask for a free sample policy on the Care Home library page.
How Cura Compliance can help
Policies are one part of being ready for CQC. If you want to know how your home would come across on the day, our mock inspection with an action plan looks at practice as well as paperwork. If you are registering a new care home, our CQC registration support includes the policy set your application needs.
For the other CuraFlow libraries, from domiciliary care to children’s homes, see CuraFlow policies, or contact us if you are not sure which fits.
Frequently asked questions
What policies does a care home need for CQC?
CQC does not publish a fixed list. You need written policies wherever the 2014 Regulations expect a consistent process, which in a care home covers governance, workforce, training, care delivery, safeguarding, health and safety, records, quality, and nursing care if you provide it. A complete set runs to well over 100 policies.
How often should care home policies be reviewed?
Most homes review each policy at least once a year, and the CuraFlow library sets a yearly review date. Review sooner when the law or guidance changes, after a serious incident, or when the way the home works changes. A review should leave a record of what was checked, even when nothing needed changing.
Can a residential home and a nursing home use the same policies?
Mostly, yes. Safeguarding, medicines, fire, recruitment and most care policies apply to both. A home registered to provide nursing also needs policies for nurse-led clinical care, nurse registration and revalidation, and clinical supervision, which a residential home should not adopt as if they applied to it.
Do care home policies need updating after the AGNI judgment?
Yes, if your mental capacity or DoLS policy describes the Cheshire West acid test. The Supreme Court replaced it on 2 June 2026 with a multifactorial assessment. DoLS applications and notifications to CQC continue as before, and no date has been set for the Liberty Protection Safeguards.
Are good policies enough to pass a CQC inspection?
No. Policies show that the system exists; what CQC sees in the home, and what staff and residents say, shows whether it works. A strong policy that staff have never read can still lead to a poor finding. Up-to-date policies that staff know are the starting point, not the finish.
Sources
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, regulations 9A, 13, 16 and 17 (legislation.gov.uk, checked 13 November 2026)
- Regulation 9A: visiting and accompanying, in force 6 April 2024 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Part 4 (legislation.gov.uk)
- NICE NG249, Falls: assessment and prevention in older people and in people 50 and over at higher risk, 29 April 2025
- NICE NG253, Suspected sepsis in people aged 16 or over, 19 November 2025
- UK Supreme Court, press summary, UKSC 2025/0042 (AGNI), judgment 2 June 2026
- CQC enforcement policy, 25 June 2026
- Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (legislation.gov.uk); the Information Commission took over from 30 September 2026
- Public Service Ombudsman: our new name, from 1 October 2026 (checked 7 November 2026)
- UKHSA and DHSC, Infection prevention and control (IPC) in adult social care, 28 October 2026
- Employment Rights Act 2025, sections 20 and 21 (legislation.gov.uk)