Member's statement: incredABLE: Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority Cease-and-desist Letter
Member's statement by Mr Eóin Tennyson on .
- MLA
- Mr Eóin Tennyson
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 19 October 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- incredABLE: Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority Cease-and-desist Letter
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5795333
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Today, I highlight a matter of profound concern for those families across the Southern Health and Social Care Trust area who rely on services provided by incredABLE. For almost two decades, incredABLE has offered residential short breaks for children and young people with learning disabilities, autism and complex needs. The breaks help those young people build confidence, develop independence and enjoy experiences that many of their peers take for granted, while also providing vital respite for parents and carers. Around 150 families depend on the provision. The strong record of incredABLE over the years has resulted in no safeguarding concerns whatsoever being raised about the service. That is why families have been shocked and alarmed to learn that the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) has, by way of a cease-and-desist letter, instructed incredABLE to stop its highly regarded service. Appropriate and proportionate regulation is, of course, essential. No one disputes that. The situation appears to have arisen, however, because an innovative community-based short-break service is being assessed through a regulatory framework that is entirely inappropriate, in that it is designed for something completely different. Despite the fact that it does not provide residential long-term care or long-term accommodation, incredABLE is being asked to register as a residential care home. It provides short-break opportunities through a model that has operated successfully for decades. As such, it cannot reasonably meet the requirements intended for an entirely different form of provision. We cannot allow a service to close not because it is unsafe, its standards have fallen short or families have lost confidence in it but because the regulatory framework lacks the necessary flexibility to accommodate it. Although the extension of the cease-and-desist deadline is welcome, I urge the Minister of Health, the RQIA and all relevant stakeholders to work urgently to find a solution. The case also raises wider questions about whether our regulatory structures are capable of supporting innovative models of care and whether children and young people with disabilities are being afforded the same opportunities as their peers to participate, to socialise and to enjoy meaningful residential experiences. The stakes are high. Around 150 families now face uncertainty about the future of a service that they trust and on which they depend. They deserve certainty, a common-sense approach from the Department of Health and the RQIA, and action to protect that vital service for the years ahead.
398 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Awaiting analysis
This record has not been analysed yet. It is not counted in any total until it has been assessed.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reviews every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.