Commentary on Sections Part 1 – Regulation of Social Care Services Chapter 2 – Registration etc. of service providers Section 13 - Variation without application
52.Even if no application to vary a registration has been made, the Welsh Ministers may consider it necessary to make a variation (for example, an inspection under section 34 might have alerted the Welsh Ministers to the need for the registration to be varied).
53.This section specifies the circumstances under which Welsh Ministers are able to vary the registration of a service provider without having received an application from the service provider.
54.The ability to vary a registration allows Welsh Ministers to cancel a particular service whilst a provider is still able to provide other services or to cancel a place at, from or in relation to which a service is provided while maintaining the registration of other places.
55.For example, a provider may be registered to provide a care home service at two places, one in Cardiff and one in Swansea. The Welsh Ministers may consider that the care home service provided in Cardiff is not complying with the relevant regulatory requirements and should be cancelled. Under this regulatory regime the provider’s registration may be varied to remove one place at which the care home service is provided (Cardiff) from the registration whilst retaining the other place (Swansea). This is because a provider will only be registered once in respect of all the services provided and all the places at, from or in relation to which each of those services is provided.
56.As with variations under section 11, the Welsh Ministers must first issue a notice of proposal prior to making any final decision to vary a service provider’s registration.