How to check a home care agency on the CQC register

Home care is a regulated trade with a strong public register: any agency providing personal care in England must be registered with the Care Quality Commission, and its registration, inspection reports and ratings are public. The check takes minutes, and Whito’s own research on this register shows why the date on the rating deserves as much attention as the rating.

Find the provider

Search the agency on cqc.org.uk by name or postcode. The entry confirms registration, the regulated activities, the registered manager, and the location the registration covers. An agency offering personal care with no CQC registration is not a budget option; it is operating outside the system that exists for exactly this service.

Read the rating, then read its date

Ratings run from Outstanding to Inadequate. Whito’s study of rating ages found the uncomfortable pattern that strong ratings tend to be old ratings, an Outstanding can be many years and an ownership change old, while recent inspections cluster where concerns exist. So read the rating with its inspection date, check whether the provider has changed hands since, and treat an aged rating as history, not as a current promise.

Match the names

The brand on the leaflet, the registered provider on the CQC entry and the company you contract with can differ, especially in franchises. Note the registered provider and manager from the register and let your care agreement name the same entity. Mismatches are usually administrative; unexplained ones are your cue to ask.

Read the report like a buyer

Inside the latest report, look at the safe and well-led sections first, staffing levels, medicines handling, how the service responds when things go wrong. One specific question for any agency: what did your last inspection ask you to improve, and what changed? Managers who answer that comfortably run the agencies you want.

Then judge the human part

The register rules agencies in or out; the rota decides your experience. Ask about carer continuity, travel scheduling, and what happens on a missed visit. The register check takes two minutes precisely so you can spend your real attention there.

Corrections and right of reply

If your business is named in this research and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk. We check it against the register, correct it within five working days if we are wrong, and publish your statement alongside if you want us to. Full route: corrections, right of reply and removals.

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Whito is an independent UK research publisher. We publish research on how UK businesses are found, trusted and priced: what they cost to market, how their sectors work, and who actually gets recommended. Studies are free to read, every figure carries the date it was checked, and nobody pays to appear.

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