Our research methodology

How we build our guidance

We build our policy templates, tools, readiness logic, and blog guidance directly from the primary regulations and official guidance that govern adult social care in England — not from secondary commentary or other vendors' material. When we make a regulatory claim, we check it against the legislation or the regulator's own current page rather than paraphrasing from memory.

CQC's guidance changes. We record the date each tool and statutory claim was last verified against its source, and we re-check against the live CQC and legislation.gov.uk pages as they are updated.

Primary sources

The CQC quality statements, evidence categories, notification duties, rating principles, and statutory citations used across InspectReady come from these current primary sources:

• CQC — Assessment framework
• CQC — Evidence categories
• CQC — How we reach a rating
• CQC — Notifications
• Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 — legislation.gov.uk
• Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, reg 17 — legislation.gov.uk
• HSE — RIDDOR reportable incidents
• Skills for Care — Care Certificate standards

How we verify statutory claims

Every statutory citation in the product — the regulation a CQC notification rests on, the Regulation 17 record-keeping duties behind the evidence pack, the Care Certificate standards — is verified against the primary legislation or official guidance, quoted rather than summarised where the exact wording matters. Where a claim cannot be grounded in a current primary source, we soften or remove it rather than present it as settled fact.

Who builds InspectReady

InspectReady is built by a researcher and software builder, not by a registered manager, clinician, nurse, or CQC inspector. We do not claim front-line care credentials. Our authority comes from working carefully and directly from primary sources — and from showing our workings on this page — rather than from professional care experience we do not have.

InspectReady is a product of Crocker Digital Ltd (Company No. 17008789), a UK technology company that builds compliance and workflow software for regulated sectors.

What InspectReady is — and is not

InspectReady provides tools and information to help you organise and prepare your CQC evidence. It does not provide professional, legal, or regulatory advice, and it is not a substitute for your own judgement or for advice from a suitably qualified professional.

• Our readiness indicator shows evidence coverage to guide your own preparation. It is not a CQC score, a rating, or a prediction of your rating.
• Our rating-principles explainer shows how CQC's published adult social-care principles normally combine key-question ratings. It is not a prediction of your rating — CQC can depart from the principles using professional judgement.
• Our starter policy templates are a structured starting point mapped to the CQC framework. Each carries an “adapt to your home” note and is not expert-reviewed off-the-shelf sign-off.
• Our notification log records your consideration of a notifiable event and its statutory basis. It does not replace CQC's online notification form or track statutory deadlines.

Questions or corrections

If you believe a claim on InspectReady is out of date or inaccurate, tell us and we will check it against the primary source and correct it. You can also read more about who we are.