CQC (Care Quality Commission) expects a Nominated Individual to be a senior person who supervises the management of the regulated activity, is the organisation’s main point of contact with CQC, and can speak with authority about how care is delivered. The role is set out in Regulation 6 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. What does that mean in practice? It means real oversight: knowing what audits, incidents, complaints and feedback are saying, acting on them, and showing the evidence. A name on the registration is the starting point, not the job.
What does CQC say a Nominated Individual must be?
CQC’s guidance, What is a nominated individual? was updated on 2nd November 2026 and sets out three expectations. The Nominated Individual should be a senior person with authority to speak on behalf of the organisation. They should hold a position that carries responsibility for supervising the management of the regulated activity. And they should be able to speak authoritatively for the organisation about how that activity is provided.
Regulation 6 adds the legal detail. The role applies to providers that are organisations, not individuals or partnerships, and the Nominated Individual must be employed as a director, manager or secretary of that body. The provider must take reasonable steps to make sure they are of good character, competent to supervise, and fit to do the job once reasonable adjustments are made. Each regulated activity can have only one Nominated Individual, and the same person can cover some or all of them.
What should Nominated Individual oversight look like in practice?
At Insequa, we see the difference between an active Nominated Individual and a name-only one most clearly in the well-led key question. CQC’s State of Care 2025/26 report found well-led to be the weakest of the five key questions in adult social care, with around a third of care homes rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate for it. CQC’s inspectors largely put that down to leaders lacking time and support.
An active Nominated Individual keeps a clear line of sight across the service. They review audits, incidents, complaints, safeguarding concerns and feedback for patterns rather than single events. They make sure managers are supported and concerns are escalated. They know the service’s strengths and weaknesses, and they check that identified shortfalls lead to action that can be evidenced.
How does a Nominated Individual evidence their oversight?
CQC does not prescribe a format. The evidence is whatever shows the Nominated Individual knew what was happening and acted on it: records of governance meetings with the registered manager, audit results reviewed over time, an action log showing what was found and when it was closed, and notes of visits, including conversations with staff and the people using the service.
The Provider Information Return (PIR) is the annual moment when that oversight is tested in writing. It asks for what good oversight produces: how quality is monitored, what incidents and complaints showed, and what changed. A Nominated Individual with a running record will recognise most of the answers. If keeping that running record is the hard part, Tilly, Insequa’s AI PIR Manager, captures the evidence through the year and drafts the PIR for your team to review.
Free resource: Skills for Care publishes a Nominated individuals’ handbook for new and experienced Nominated Individuals, including those who are also registered managers.
Nominated Individual FAQs
Who can be a Nominated Individual?
Someone employed as a director, manager or secretary of the provider organisation, in a position senior enough to supervise the management of the regulated activity and speak for the provider. Individuals and partnerships registered with CQC do not need one. The provider must check their character, competence and health.
Can the registered manager also be the Nominated Individual?
Yes, and CQC says this normally happens in small organisations. CQC advises avoiding it where possible, because it may need to speak to someone more senior than the registered manager when concerns arise. Where one person holds both roles, the governance evidence must show that oversight still happens.
Does the Nominated Individual have to complete the PIR?
No. CQC sends the PIR to the registered manager, and the Nominated Individual receives a letter for information. The return is submitted once a year within a four-week deadline. The quality of its evidence reflects directly on the Nominated Individual’s oversight, so review it together before submission.