The two duties at a glance
Regulation 5 — Directors
Applies where the provider is a body other than a partnership. You must not appoint or keep a director (or someone doing a director’s job) unless they meet the fitness requirements.
Regulation 19 — Employed staff
Applies to the wider workforce — staff, bank/agency, volunteers, contractors. You must run proper recruitment checks and keep the Schedule 3 information for each person.
Regulation 5: fit and proper directors
For a director (or anyone performing a director’s functions), all of the following must be satisfied. The individual must:
- be of good character;
- have the qualifications, competence, skills and experience necessary for the role;
- be physically and mentally able (after reasonable adjustments) to do the role;
- not have been responsible for, party to, or have facilitated serious misconduct or mismanagement in a regulated activity; and
- not meet any of the “unfit person” grounds in Schedule 4 (e.g. struck off a professional register, on a barred list, legally prohibited from the role, or an undischarged bankrupt).
Regulation 5 isn’t only about new appointments — it applies to current directors too, so you should review their fitness regularly (for example, annually) and keep the evidence.
Regulation 19: fit and proper staff (Schedule 3)
For people you employ or engage in the regulated activity, you must obtain and keep:
- Proof of identity (including a recent photograph).
- A DBS certificate at the appropriate level, with barring information where applicable.
- Satisfactory evidence of conduct in previous health/social care or children/vulnerable-adult roles (references).
- Where relevant, verification of why previous employment ended for roles involving children or vulnerable adults.
- Documentary evidence of relevant qualifications (so far as reasonably practicable).
- A full employment history, with a written explanation of any gaps.
- Satisfactory information about any physical or mental health condition relevant to the role (after reasonable adjustments).
Records and changes of circumstances
Keep written evidence of each person’s fit-and-proper status — obtained on recruitment and maintained for existing staff and directors — stored confidentially and available for inspection. If a concern arises after appointment (a regulator hearing, a conviction, a safeguarding allegation), respond promptly and proportionately, take interim measures to protect people, follow a fair process, and inform regulators, police or safeguarding authorities where required.
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Fit & Proper Persons
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