The Role of a Registered Manager in Adult Social Care

Under CQC regulation, most locations providing a regulated activity need a Registered Manager – the individual with day-to-day responsibility for how that location is run, registered separately from the provider organisation itself.

Becoming a Registered Manager means applying to CQC individually, including a fit and proper person assessment, distinct from the provider’s own registration. Once registered, that person carries direct accountability for the quality and safety of care delivered day to day – staffing levels and competence, safeguarding, medicines management, records, and reporting notifiable incidents to CQC.

Because that accountability sits with a named individual rather than only the organisation, a prolonged Registered Manager vacancy is treated as a compliance risk in its own right, not simply a staffing gap to be filled whenever convenient.

Last updated: 19 August 2026