Commentary on Sections

Part 1 – Regulation of Social Care Services

Chapter 2 – Registration etc. of service providers
Section 11 - Application for variation of registration as a service provider

47.If a service provider wants to change any of the parameters of their registration (e.g. by adding a new regulated service or a new location or changing the responsible individuals that are registered) they must apply for a variation of their registration under this section.

48.Subsection (2) is a regulation making power that allows the Welsh Ministers to set a time limit within which the service provider must apply to vary their registration to designate a new person as a responsible individual in respect of that service or a location at which that service is carried out. If a responsible individual dies or becomes incapable of performing the role or if the designation of the individual is cancelled by the Welsh Ministers in accordance with section 22 because they no longer satisfy the requirements set out in section 21 the service provider has to have another individual in place or else they would be committing an offence under section 43. It is therefore reasonable to provide for a certain period of time where there might be a gap in registering a new responsible individual. This regulation making power is intended to provide for this and may specify different time periods in different circumstances (for example, it might be reasonable to require a service provider to act quickly to find a replacement responsible individual when it has been clear for some time that the existing individual’s registration was going to be cancelled. In contrast, a longer gap may be permissible when a responsible individual dies unexpectedly).

49.Subsection (3) sets out the things that must be contained within an application to vary registration. If that application is to provide a domiciliary support service then paragraph (a)(ii) requires that the application must contain the undertaking set out in section 8.