Data last verified: 5 November 2026. Figures re-checked against their primary sources under the Whito rolling re-verification programme.
Finding
Of 14,501 home care agency locations on the CQC register in August 2026, 5,150 (35.5%) had no inspection date and only 2,801 (19.3%) had been checked in the previous three years. Whito count of the CQC care directory.
Source: Whito, whito.co.uk/home-care/research/uk-home-care-industry, 2026-11-05. Free to quote with a link to this page.
Last Updated on November 6, 2026
Short answer: England had 14,501 home care agency locations registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in August 2026, run by 11,239 providers. More than a third (5,150, or 35.5%) had no inspection date on the register, and only 2,801 (19.3%) had been checked in the three years before. The East Midlands has the most agencies per head (28.2 per 100,000 residents); the North East has the fewest (15.4).
These figures are Whito’s count of the CQC’s own register file. There is no reliable official business count for home care, so this page uses the regulator’s data instead. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own regulators and are not included.
The key figures
| Figure | Value | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Home care agency locations registered with CQC | 14,501 | CQC care directory, produced 26 August 2026 (Whito count) |
| Providers running them | 11,239 | Same file |
| Locations with no inspection date on the register | 5,150 (35.5%) | Same file |
| Locations checked in the last three years | 2,801 (19.3%) | Same file |
| Locations last checked more than five years ago | 3,717 (25.6%) | Same file |
| Locations also registered for supported living | 3,942 (27.2%) | Same file |
| Locations with no website on the register | 7,077 (48.8%) | Same file |
| Community social care locations with no current rating | 83.5% of 14,597 | Homecare Association analysis of CQC data, 10 June 2026 |
Inspections: how recently were agencies checked?
| Last CQC check | Locations | Share |
|---|---|---|
| No date on the register (never inspected or not yet rated) | 5,150 | 35.5% |
| Within the last three years | 2,801 | 19.3% |
| Three to five years ago | 2,833 | 19.5% |
| More than five years ago | 3,717 | 25.6% |
| Total | 14,501 |
Measured against 26 August 2026, the date the CQC produced the file. The Homecare Association, using CQC data from 5 May 2026, found the same pattern across all community social care services: 83.5% of 14,597 locations had no current rating (one published within three years), 36.9% had never been assessed, and the number with a current rating fell from 5,118 in 2024 to 2,413 in 2026.
What this means for families: an agency’s CQC rating is often old or missing. A “Good” rating from 2019 says little about the agency today. Check the date of the inspection, not just the rating.
Where home care agencies are based
| Region | Agency locations | Per 100,000 residents | No inspection date |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | 1,436 | 28.2 | 38.9% |
| East of England | 1,833 | 27.7 | 37.9% |
| London | 2,449 | 26.8 | 36.7% |
| West Midlands | 1,628 | 26.2 | 39.4% |
| South East | 2,520 | 26.0 | 39.4% |
| South West | 1,339 | 22.7 | 28.2% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 1,258 | 22.2 | 26.4% |
| North West | 1,608 | 20.7 | 35.3% |
| North East | 425 | 15.4 | 20.5% |
| England | 14,501 | 24.6 | 35.5% |
Five locations had no English region on the file (three blank, two listed as Wales) and are included in the England total only. Population: ONS mid-2025 estimates. Per-head figures are Whito calculations; a figure per older resident would be more precise and is a planned addition.
What stands out
- The South East and West Midlands have the largest share of uninspected agencies, 39.4% each. The North East has the smallest, 20.5%.
- The North East has the fewest agencies per head, 15.4 per 100,000, against 28.2 in the East Midlands.
- Most providers are small. 11,239 providers run 14,501 locations. Only 57 providers run ten or more locations, 1,242 in total.
Two counts, one sector
The ONS counts 6,990 UK businesses in code 88100, social work without accommodation for the elderly and disabled (March 2026). The CQC register lists 14,501 home care agency locations in England alone. The official business code is clearly a poor fit for home care, which is why this page uses the regulator’s register.
Rules that apply
- Any organisation providing personal care to people in their own homes in England must register with the CQC. In Wales the regulator is Care Inspectorate Wales, in Scotland the Care Inspectorate, and in Northern Ireland the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority.
- The CQC publishes its register, ratings and a monthly care directory as open data under the Open Government Licence (CQC, page updated 3 November 2026).
- Recruitment: the Care Worker visa route closed to new overseas recruitment on 22 July 2025, with switching from within the UK allowed until 22 July 2028 (Pinsent Masons, 24 July 2025).
What Whito’s research adds
- Agency websites rarely answer the basic questions. On 4 November 2026 Whito checked 64 home care agency locations drawn from the CQC register in eight English areas. Of the 49 websites that loaded, 3 showed a price, and 27 showed none of these four things: a price, a CQC rating, a link to the CQC report or how care starts. See Home care agency websites check.
- Half the register has no website. 27,551 of 57,082 registered care services in England (48.3%) had no website on the CQC register in August 2026. See The invisible half.
What we do not know yet
- How many people use home care or how many hours are delivered. Those figures come from local authority and NHS data we have not yet added.
- Prices. Very few agencies publish them (3 of 49 in our check).
- Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Their regulators publish separate registers, which we plan to add.
Method and limits
- Source file: CQC care directory (CSV), “produced on 26 August 2026”, all active locations in England (57,082 rows). Home care agencies are the locations whose service types include “Homecare agencies” (14,501). Count and analysis by Whito.
- “No inspection date” means the “Date of latest check” field was blank. That usually means the service has not yet been inspected; it can also cover recently registered services.
- Time since last check measured to 26 August 2026: three years = 1,095 days, five years = 1,825 days.
- A location is one registered office or service, not one company. Providers can run several locations.
- The file is a snapshot. Inspections since 26 August 2026 are not counted; the next update will use a newer file.
Compare with other industries: see UK trade businesses in 2026: ten industries compared, one table with each count, its date and the change since 2010 and 2021.
Common questions
How many home care agencies are there in England?
14,501 home care agency locations were registered with the CQC in August 2026, run by 11,239 providers (Whito count of the CQC care directory, 26 August 2026).
How many home care agencies have never been inspected?
5,150 of 14,501 (35.5%) had no inspection date on the CQC register in August 2026.
How old are home care CQC ratings?
Only 19.3% of home care agency locations had been checked in the three years before August 2026, and 25.6% were last checked more than five years earlier.
Which region has the most home care agencies?
The South East has the most by number (2,520). The East Midlands has the most per head, 28.2 per 100,000 residents.
Who regulates home care?
The Care Quality Commission in England, Care Inspectorate Wales, the Care Inspectorate in Scotland and the RQIA in Northern Ireland.
Sources (opened 5 November 2026)
- CQC care directory file produced 26 August 2026 (from CQC, using CQC data): https://cqc.org.uk/about-us/transparency/using-cqc-data
- Homecare Association, unseen and unrated (10 Jun 2026): https://www.homecareassociation.org.uk/resource/unseen-and-unrated-more-than-four-in-five-community-social-care-services-in-england-have-no-current-cqc-rating-new-analysis-finds.html
- ONS UK Business Counts via Nomis, NM_142_1 (SIC 88100): https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_142_1
- ONS mid-2025 population estimates via Nomis, NM_2002_1
- Pinsent Masons, Care Worker visa route closes (24 Jul 2025): https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/uk-care-worker-visa-route-closes
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.
