Is it acceptable to operate a care agency from home?

Answered by Abi Spence

Thank you for your question. I am presuming you mean a Domiciliary Care Agency? I am also not clear who you have registered with if you have not registered your premises. If you are providing domiciliary care with the regulated activity of personal care, then you will need to make an application to the Care Quality Commission to enable you to deliver this service in England. See the Scope of Registration if you are unsure.  If you are within scope and you have not registered, you cannot provide personal care.

If you need to register with CQC, there are a number of things that you need to consider as although it is possible, you will need a separate space to be able to run the agency from home because you will need to:

• Ensure confidentiality of information
• Have a space to speak with clients and staff – even if that is over the phone
• Possibly you will be using the ‘office’ for 1-1s

This really means you need to have a separate office at home where confidential information can be locked away in that room. You should also complete a risk assessment regarding security. If there are other members of your family in the home this will need to be thought about also.

CQC have information on their website specifically for domiciliary Care providers.   They say ‘You must include information about how appropriate your premises are. This is within the ‘locations’ section of your application. You may plan to deliver personal care within people’s homes, but we still need information about your premises. This is because it is where the regulated activity will be legally carried on and managed from. We may refuse your application if we find your premises are inadequate. For example, if people’s records are not kept safely and securely.’