CQC statement of purpose: what to include, what must match, and when to update it
The statement of purpose is the shortest document in most CQC applications, and the one everything else gets checked against.
It tells CQC, in your own words, what you do, where you do it and who it's for. It's a legal requirement under Regulation 12 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009. CQC says it must refuse registration if you can't satisfy it that you'll comply, and it can prosecute a breach without serving a warning notice first.
Our team has built CQC-registered clinics and a UKAS-accredited pathology lab in London. This guide covers what goes in each part, what CQC cross-checks against your application form, and what to do when your service changes, checked against CQC's guidance as it stands in October 2026.
What the law says it must contain
Schedule 3 of the 2009 Registration Regulations lists five things:
- The provider's aims and objectives in carrying on the regulated activity.
- The kinds of services provided and the range of needs they're meant to meet.
- The full name, business address, phone number and email (where available) of the provider and any registered manager, plus the address CQC can send formal notices to, and an email for notices if you agree to service by email.
- The provider's legal status: individual, partnership or organisation.
- Details of the locations where the regulated activity is carried on.
Regulation 12 then adds two duties: keep the statement under review and revise it where needed, and send CQC written details of any revision within 28 days.
CQC's statement of purpose guidance turns that into four headings: about your business, your aims and objectives, the places where you provide services, and your registered managers. Its free templates follow the same four parts.
| Part | What goes in | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| 1. About the provider | Legal name and status, business address, phone, email, address for service, partners' names | Address doesn't match the form, or it's a PO box |
| 2. Aims and objectives | What you're trying to achieve, at the locations you run | Brochure copy that can't be tested |
| 3. Locations | Address, description, service types, service user bands, regulated activities and manager for each | Bands or service types that differ from the form |
| 4. Registered managers | Name, contact details, address for service, locations and % of time at each, activities managed, job shares | Time split missing, or a manager covering an activity they aren't applying for |
Part 1: the provider, and your address for service
This part is mostly facts, but one of them has real consequences. The address for service is where CQC sends formal notices, such as warning notices and decisions on applications. CQC can treat a notice sent there as served under sections 93 and 94 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
CQC's new provider guidance sets the rules:
- The postal address must be in England and not a PO box.
- It must be the same address as the one in your statement of purpose.
- CQC publishes it on its website and your certificate. Use your home address and your home address goes public.
- Unless you opt out, CQC uses the email address you give for formal notices. Pick a shared inbox someone checks daily, not a founder's personal account.
Part 2: aims and objectives you can test
This is the part written entirely in your own words. CQC's guidance notes that a statement of purpose can also work as part of your quality and safety system, as a clear statement of your approach that you review internally.
So write aims you could audit. Compare these two for a private outpatient clinic (an illustration, not wording to copy):
- Vague: "To deliver world-class, patient-centred care in a welcoming environment."
- Testable: "To offer adults private GP consultations and blood tests, with routine results reviewed by a doctor and shared with the patient within an agreed timescale, and to refer urgent findings the same day."
The second gives your governance meetings something to measure, and tells an assessor exactly who you see and what you do.
Part 3: every location, described properly
You need a separate Part 3 for each location. CQC's document guidance asks for:
- the address and contact details
- a description of the location, including any other uses of the property, for example whether it's a domestic dwelling
- the service type you provide at or from it
- your service user bands
- the regulated activities provided there
- the registered manager for those activities.
For a mobile phlebotomy or home-visit service, the location is usually the premises where you routinely plan, coordinate and manage the work, not each patient's home. CQC's What is a location? guidance also rules out virtual offices and PO boxes.
Service types: they set your fee
Service types are CQC's categories, such as doctors consultation service (DCS), doctors treatment service (DTS) and diagnostic and/or screening service (DSS). They're described in CQC's service types guidance. CQC uses the ones you tick to calculate your annual fee, and says they should match the description of your service in your statement of purpose.
One rule catches clinics out: only tick DSS if diagnostics or screening is the sole or main activity at that location. A GP-led clinic that also takes bloods doesn't tick DSS just because it's registering for the regulated activity of diagnostic and screening procedures.
Service user bands: say who you're for
Service user bands are the groups and specialisms you intend to serve: age bands such as adults aged 18 to 65 and children aged 0 to 3, plus specialist needs such as dementia, learning disability or sensory impairment. A service open to everyone can select "whole population". CQC says it always checks that the bands ticked on the form match those in your statement of purpose. If you select a band, you must be able to meet those needs for as long as a person uses your service, and CQC will check your staff have the skills to do so.
Children are where this usually comes unstuck. If you'll see under-18s, the bands, your safeguarding and consent policies and your DBS barred list checks all have to say so.
Part 4: each registered manager
One Part 4 per manager, with their full name, contact details, address for service, the activities they manage and any job share. The detail people miss is the locations they manage and the percentage of time spent at each. Leave it out and the statement is incomplete.
CQC's template, or your own
CQC publishes four Word templates on its statement of purpose page, one per part. You don't have to use them, but if you do, CQC asks you to copy all the parts into one document before you send it. CQC's application guidance says you need a statement of purpose for each regulated activity, and you can either keep separate statements or combine them into one. For a single clinic, one combined document is easier to keep consistent.
Whichever format you use, treat it like your other supporting documents. CQC says every document must carry your business name, the person responsible, the date created and a review date, and be consistent with your other policies. It will reject an application if documents contain incorrect or out-of-date information, or aren't relevant to your service.
After registration: when the statement changes
The statement isn't finished once you're registered. Some changes only need a notification. Others need an application, approved before you make the change.
Notify within 28 days when you revise the statement, for example after changing your aims and objectives or the service user bands at a location. CQC's notification page asks you to use its current "Statutory notification: Change to a statement of purpose" form, send a revised copy of the statement with it, and email both to [email protected]. Incomplete forms are returned.
Apply first when the change touches the conditions of your registration. CQC's guidance on making changes to your registration says your locations are a condition, so adding, removing or moving a location needs an application, and you mustn't make the change until it's granted. To add a regulated activity, CQC asks you to apply at least 10 weeks before you plan to start, and to send an updated statement of purpose with the application.
Put a review date for the statement in your governance calendar, at least once a year.
The mistakes we'd check for
- Service user bands on the form that aren't in the statement, or the other way round.
- DSS ticked by a clinic whose main activity isn't diagnostics.
- A postal address for service that's a PO box, outside England, or different from the form.
- A manager's locations listed without their share of time at each.
- Aims and objectives that read like marketing and can't be measured.
- A statement revised months ago and never notified to CQC.
Where Wardour fits
Every Wardour clinic pack includes a statement of purpose template (WD-CQC-GOV-001), set out in six parts: provider details, aims and objectives, locations, services, registered managers, and keeping it up to date. It's in the £59 CQC Registration Starter alongside the registration readiness checklist and six core policies, and in Clinic Essentials (£349), which also has a statutory notifications procedure and log for tracking the changes you send CQC. Clinic Complete (£695) has the full library. You'll still need to tailor the template and check it against the Schedule 3 list above, including each manager's time at each location.
FAQ
Is a statement of purpose a legal requirement for CQC?
Yes. Regulation 12 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 requires every registered provider to give CQC a statement of purpose containing the information in Schedule 3, keep it under review and notify any revision within 28 days. New providers send it with their registration application.
Is there a CQC statement of purpose template?
Yes. CQC publishes four Word templates: part 1 about the provider, part 2 aims and objectives, part 3 about the location and part 4 registered managers. Complete a part 3 for each location and a part 4 for each manager, then combine them into one document. Using them is optional.
How do you tell CQC about a change to your statement of purpose?
Complete CQC's "Statutory notification: Change to a statement of purpose" form and email it, with the revised statement, to [email protected] within 28 days of the revision. Changes to locations or regulated activities need an application approved before the change instead.
What are CQC service user bands?
They're the age groups and specialist needs your service intends to meet, such as adults aged 65+, children aged 0 to 3, dementia or learning disability. You tick them on the application form for each location and describe them in your statement of purpose, and CQC checks that the two match.
Do you need a separate statement of purpose for each location?
Not a separate document. One statement can cover all your locations, with a part 3 for each one. CQC's guidance also allows separate statements for each regulated activity, or one combined statement.
Sources
- CQC: Statement of purpose
- CQC: Regulation 12, Statement of purpose (guidance on the Registration Regulations)
- The Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, regulation 12
- The Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, Schedule 3
- CQC: Supporting documents, statement of purpose
- CQC: Supporting documents, how to send your documents
- CQC: Applying as a new provider, guidance
- CQC: Service user bands
- CQC: What is a location?
- CQC: Service types
- CQC: Changes to your statement of purpose, notification form
- CQC: Making changes to your registration
- CQC: Provider application, add a regulated activity
General information only, not legal or regulatory advice. Always check the current official guidance.
