Data last verified: 4 November 2026. Figures re-checked against their primary sources under the Whito rolling re-verification programme.
Finding
On 4 November 2026, 3 of 49 home care agency websites drawn at random from the CQC register showed a price, and 27 showed no price, no CQC rating, no link to their CQC report and no explanation of how care starts.
Source: Whito, whito.co.uk/home-care/research/home-care-agency-websites-check, 2026-11-04. Free to quote with a link to this page.
Last Updated on November 4, 2026
On 4 November 2026, 3 of 49 home care agency websites drawn at random from the CQC register showed a price, and 27 showed no price, no CQC rating, no link to their CQC report and no explanation of how care starts.
A family paying for its own care usually has to choose an agency quickly. They want to know three things: roughly what it costs, whether the regulator rates it well, and what happens after they call. We checked whether agencies’ own websites answer those questions.
Key findings
- We drew 64 home care agency locations at random from the CQC register in eight areas of England. 15 of the 64 website addresses on the register did not work or pointed to the wrong place.
- Of the 49 sites that loaded, 3 showed any price: two hourly rates (from £31.00 and from £32.40 an hour) and one weekly live-in price.
- 10 showed their CQC rating and 12 linked to their CQC report. 16 did at least one of the two.
- 11 explained what happens from first contact to the first visit. 8 explained self-funding, council funding or direct payments.
- 27 of the 49 did none of the four: no price, no rating, no report link and no explanation of how care starts.
- Only 2 sites showed a price, their CQC rating or report, and how care starts, all together.
What families can find, area by area
| Local authority | Sites that loaded | Showed a price | Linked to CQC report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Birmingham | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| Leeds | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| Bristol | 7 | 1 | 3 |
| Norfolk | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Leicester | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Nottingham | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| Southampton | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 49 | 3 | 12 |
What this means if you run a home care agency
Families compare agencies on trust and clarity. Most of the sites we checked give them neither, so the bar is low.
Start with three changes. Show your current CQC rating and link to the report. Publish an hourly price range, even a “from” price. Write one short page on what the first week of care looks like. Then check the web address on your CQC profile actually works: nearly one in four in this sample did not.
How we did it
- Sample: the CQC care directory file dated 28 October 2026 (Open Government Licence). We took every location registered as a home care agency in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Norfolk, Leicester, Nottingham and Southampton that lists a website (656 of 1,397), sorted them by a fixed code made from the CQC location ID, and took the first 8 in each area. Anyone can repeat this draw.
- Checks: the website on the register, read on 4 November 2026. Sites that would not load were retried in a browser. We recorded only whether a price, rating, report link or explanation was shown. We did not record or reprint any agency’s rating.
- Limits: the sample includes agencies that also run supported living or complex care, and some large groups whose site covers many branches. A rating shown only by a script that did not load in our tools could be missed. Many agencies are mainly funded by councils and may not market to families paying privately.
Download the data: whito-home-care-agency-websites-2026-11-04.csv (64 rows, CQC location IDs, no ratings).
Cite this research
Whito (2026). Can families paying for care find a price, a rating and a next step? Checked 4 November 2026. https://whito.co.uk/home-care/research/home-care-agency-websites-check/
Common questions
How much does home care cost per hour?
Most agencies do not say online. In our check of 49 agency websites, only two showed an hourly rate: from £31.00 and from £32.40 an hour on 4 November 2026. Ask every agency for its hourly rate in writing.
How do I check a home care agency’s CQC rating?
Search for the agency on the CQC website and read the latest report and its date. Only 12 of the 49 agency sites in our check linked to their own CQC report.
Do home care agencies explain how care starts?
11 of 49 did. Ask whether there is a home assessment, who writes the care plan, and when the first visit will be.
If your business is named here and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk and we will check it and correct it. If you want to respond, send us a statement and we will publish it alongside. Full detail: Corrections, right of reply and removals.
