The regulatory landscape for health and social care qualifications in England involves three key bodies: Ofqual (which regulates the qualifications themselves), Skills for Care (which maintains the approved qualifications register for the adult care sector), and the Care Quality Commission (which inspects care services and uses staff qualifications as evidence of quality and safety).
Why does the CQC care about Ofqual regulation?
The Care Quality Commission inspects all registered care services in England against five key questions: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led? Staff qualifications feature prominently in the "effective" and "well-led" domains. During an inspection, the CQC will review training records and qualifications for staff at all levels — from care assistants to registered managers.
An Ofqual-regulated qualification is one approved for delivery under the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) by an accredited awarding body. The RQF replaced earlier legacy frameworks, including the old NVQ framework; all current health and social care diplomas are RQF-regulated. This matters because the internet is full of unregulated CPD certificates in health and social care that carry no formal recognition. The CQC does not count CPD certificates as evidence of qualification — only Ofqual-regulated RQF diplomas count.