23 January 2012
Last updated 
CQC has stated that by 1 April 2011, there will be some providers who are still in the final stages of registering and has stated:
"We would like to reassure any provider who has submitted a valid application to us, but has not received their notices of decision (NoDs) or certificate, that we will consider them to be ‘in process’.
This means those providers will be protected from prosecution by us for operating without registration. We will only take action against a provider during this transitional phase if we think the care they are providing puts the public at risk.
We have discussed this approach with the Department of Health and PCTs to emphasise that ‘in process’ providers should continue to operate and commissioners should be able to continue to contract services from them.
There are many reasons why a provider who has submitted an application may not have received their NoDs or certificate by 1 April. These include:
- Providers who have a CRB check still in process. This is likely to include those NHS dentists that have recently been advised they will need to apply for a CQC signed CRB check, as we have been unable to obtain CRB verification from their PCT.
- Providers that enrolled and validated later in the application cycle, and therefore were invited to apply in one of our later application windows. This may mean we are still assessing and processing their application at 1 April.
- We have had to work with some providers to gather further information, or carry out further checks on their compliance."
Click here to read the full correspondence.
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