Do you need to register with CQC for your events?

Until 6 December 2027 the requirement is not in force, so you can continue as you are. From that date you cannot carry on providing treatment at events unless you are registered, and CQC are clear that providers carrying on this regulated activity at events are legally required to register. Being registered is not the same as having applied. A submitted application is not permission to continue, because CQC have to grant it first. Applications opened on 7 September 2026, and CQC have said that anyone applying after 1 March 2027 may not receive an outcome by 6 December 2027, which is why 1 March is the date to work back from.

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 have been amended to remove two exceptions. In CQC’s words, “there are no longer any exceptions within the regulations that are based on a location”. Treating a disease, disorder or injury at an event was previously outside CQC regulation because of those exceptions. It now falls within scope.

No. CQC have confirmed that providers delivering health care at events “will usually just need to register one location, which is the base at which they manage the regulated activity from”. If you work across England from a single base, that is normally one registration rather than one per site. CQC set out what counts as a location in their own guidance, linked at the foot of this page.

Not if first aid is genuinely all you do. CQC is clear that “you do not need to register if you only provide first aid, as this is not regulated activity”. But two things commonly tip a first aid provider into needing registration: employing or deploying a listed healthcare professional who treats people, and first aiders contacting a clinician to ask whether someone needs treatment. CQC treats the second as having moved beyond first aid.

CQC’s guidance refers to venues including gymnasiums, sports grounds, festivals, nightclubs, concert venues and outdoor spaces. The regulated activity applies regardless of the location it is carried on from, so the question is what treatment is being delivered and by whom, rather than the type of venue.

CQC have not published a timescale specific to event registrations. More generally they describe registering as a new provider as something that can take a few months, and they assess applications in the order they are received. They have also said that applications submitted after 1 March 2027 may not receive an outcome by 6 December 2027, when the requirements take effect. Between the queue and the preparation, that is the practical reason to start early rather than wait.

CQC will not process an application until the groundwork is done. That includes a DBS check for your main point of contact, which can take up to 60 days, deciding who your registered manager will be, and preparing your supporting documents. CQC cannot register you on an incomplete application or one that contains incorrect information.

No. A new registration also needs supporting documents. Most commonly that means a statement of purpose, policies covering areas such as safeguarding, complaints, recruitment, medicines and governance, and proof of insurance, and many providers also need a financial viability statement. Ambulance services have had to send additional documents since 17 August 2026. CQC publish the full list of what every applicant must send, linked at the foot of this page, and they will reject an application that does not include everything required. Policies that do not reflect what you actually do at events are a common reason for that.

The legal entity that takes responsibility for carrying on the regulated activity registers. That can be an individual, a partnership or an organisation. Where a clinician is commissioned by an organisation to deliver treatment, it is generally that organisation which needs to be registered rather than the individual. Where the clinician is solely responsible, they register themselves.

Probably not in your own name. CQC register the legal entity that takes responsibility for carrying on the regulated activity. Where your employer has taken that responsibility on, and you are working for them under an agreement with the event organiser, it is their registration that matters rather than yours. Two things still need checking. Their registration has to cover the work, so their locations and statement of purpose may need updating to reflect treatment at events. And if the event organiser engages you directly rather than through your employer, you are likely to be the one carrying on the activity, and registration would fall to you.