A communication method and a communications apparatus are provided. In the method, in a process in which at least one quality of service flow is handed over from a first access network device to a second access network device, the first access network device sends first information to the second access network device, where the first information is used to indicate that the first access network device has notified a core network device that a quality of service requirement of the at least one quality of service flow cannot be met; and after receiving the first information sent by the first access network device, the second access network device may send second information to the core network device, where the second information is used to notify the core network device that a quality of service requirement of a first quality of service flow in the at least one quality of service flow can be met, and the first quality of service flow is a quality of service flow that has been handed over from the first access network device to the second access network device. In this way, notification control statuses that are of the quality of service flow and that are recorded on a core network side and on an access network side after a handover of the quality of service flow can be synchronized with each other as much as possible.