CQC Audit Requirements: Evidence Inspectors Ask For (2026)

Short answer: There is no statutory list of audits a care home must run. What Regulation 17 requires is that you assess, monitor and improve quality, and audits are how you do it. Inspectors consistently expect to see medication, care plan, infection prevention, falls, health and safety, staff file, incident and safeguarding checks running at a sensible frequency, and they expect each finding to carry a named owner, a date and proof it was closed. An audit that lists problems and stops there is the single most common reason a governance question scores badly.

What CQC Means by "Audit"

When inspectors talk about audits, they don't mean a once-a-year external review. They mean the routine internal checks a well-run home does on itself — medication, care plans, infection control, falls — and, crucially, what you do with the findings.

Here's the line that separates a pass from a requirement notice: an audit that lists problems and stops there scores badly. An audit that finds a problem, assigns an action to a named person, and proves it was fixed is what "good governance" looks like under Regulation 17. CQC is checking the loop, not the checklist.

The Audits CQC Expects You to Run

There is no single legally fixed list, but inspectors consistently expect to see these, at a sensible frequency:

Frequency should follow risk. A home that had two medication errors last month audits medication weekly until it's stable — and being able to show that responsiveness is itself strong evidence.

The Evidence Inspectors Actually Ask to See

Whatever structure CQC assesses through, your processes are what audits exist to evidence, and that expectation sits in Regulation 17. Expect requests for:

• Completed audit records with dates and the name of who carried them out.
• Action plans linked to findings — not a separate document nobody reads, but actions tied to the specific issue found.
• Evidence of completion — the follow-up that shows the action actually happened.
• Governance meeting minutes where audit results were discussed and decisions made.
• Trend analysis — three months of falls or medication data with a note on what the pattern told you.

The weakest spot I see, again and again, is the middle of that list. Homes run the audits and file them, but the trail from finding to fix is missing. On paper it reads as: we noticed, and then nothing.

Turning Audits into a Closed Loop

A good audit trail has four parts, and inspectors can follow it end to end:

1. Find — the audit identifies a specific issue ("3 of 12 care plans overdue for review").
2. Assign — a named person owns the fix, with a deadline.
3. Act — the work happens and is recorded.
4. Verify — a re-check confirms it's resolved, and the result feeds the next governance meeting.

When that loop is visible, an inspector scoring the "processes" and "outcomes" evidence categories has everything they need to award a 3 or 4. When it isn't, even genuinely good care can score a 2 because the evidence doesn't demonstrate control.

This is where continuous systems earn their keep. A CQC compliance operating system links each audit finding to an owner, a deadline and a completion record, so the trail assembles itself instead of being rebuilt before a visit. For the wider picture of what inspectors assess, our CQC compliance guide maps the standards behind these audits.

A Practical Monthly Rhythm

You don't need a compliance department to do this well — you need a rhythm:

• Week 1: medication and MAR audit; log actions.
• Week 2: care plan sample (5–10 residents); check reviews and risk alignment.
• Week 3: infection control and health-and-safety walkround.
• Week 4: pull the month's incident and falls data, look for trends, take it to your governance meeting.

Rotate the sample each month so you're not auditing the same easy files. Over a year that gives you full coverage and a defensible evidence base.

Common Reasons Audits Fail to Impress CQC

That last row surprises people. A home whose audits only ever say "all fine" looks less credible than one that finds and fixes issues. Inspectors trust evidence of self-correction.

Does CQC Require an Audit System, or Will Spreadsheets Do?

CQC does not require you to buy anything. There is no CQC-approved audit tool and no accredited software list. What Regulation 17 requires is that you operate systems and processes that assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service, and that you can produce accurate, complete and contemporaneous records when they are asked for.

So the useful question is not which system, it is what a system has to do. Whatever you use, a CQC auditing system that survives contact with an inspection has to do six things:

1. Schedule the checks so they happen on their planned cadence rather than when someone remembers.
2. Record each finding against a named owner and a due date, at the point the finding is made.
3. Hold the completion evidence with the finding, not filed somewhere else under a different date.
4. Show what is open and overdue without anyone compiling a report by hand.
5. Show the trend over time, because one clean month says nothing about whether the service is improving.
6. Survive a change of manager. Governance that lives in the registered manager's head is not a system, and it is the first thing to break when they leave.

A spreadsheet does the first three perfectly well if somebody maintains it. Points four, five and six are where spreadsheets usually give way, and they are also the points inspectors probe, because they are what separates records that exist from a system that is operated effectively.

A two-minute test you can run today. Pick one audit finding from four months ago. How long does it take you to show who owned it, what they did about it, and the evidence that it was closed? If that takes more than a couple of minutes, your records exist but your system does not, and that is the gap a governance question is scored on.

FAQs

What audits does CQC require a care home to do?
There is no single fixed list, but CQC expects routine audits of medication, care plans, infection control, falls, health and safety, staff files, incidents and safeguarding, at a frequency that reflects the home's level of risk.

How often should care home audits be carried out?
Most quality audits run monthly, with some (like health and safety) quarterly. Frequency should increase after a problem is found and stay high until the issue is stable. Being able to show that responsiveness is itself good evidence.

What audit evidence does CQC ask to see?
Completed audit records with dates and names, action plans linked to the findings, evidence that actions were completed, governance minutes discussing the results, and trend analysis over time.

Why do care home audits fail CQC inspection?
The most common reason is a broken loop: audits identify problems but there is no owned action, no completion evidence, or no governance discussion. CQC assesses whether issues are found, acted on and closed, not just recorded.

Does CQC require a specific audit system or software?
No. There is no CQC-approved audit tool and no accredited software list. Regulation 17 asks for systems and processes that assess, monitor and improve quality, and for accurate, complete and contemporaneous records. The format is your choice. Being able to evidence the loop is not.

Can we run CQC audits on spreadsheets?
Yes, if they are genuinely maintained. Spreadsheets handle scheduling and recording well enough. They tend to fail on showing what is open and overdue without manual compilation, on trend over time, and on surviving a change of manager, which are the parts inspectors probe hardest.

Is good governance the same as running audits?
No. Under Regulation 17, governance means using audit findings to drive improvement. Running audits is necessary but not sufficient — the evidence has to show findings turning into completed, verified actions.

Make the Audit Trail Build Itself

Statixs links every audit finding to an owner, a deadline and a completion record, and keeps the whole trail inspection-ready — so when CQC asks for evidence, it's already there.

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Free resource: Audit your staff records against Regulation 19 with the Staff File Audit Template, or browse all free CQC compliance checklists and templates.

Related: CQC Compliance Guide | Single Assessment Framework Explained | Governance and Regulation 17 | CQC Inspection Checklist