Home care compliance software for all four UK nations
Four-nation regulatory compliance for UK domiciliary agencies, built into every workflow. CQC, CIW, Care Inspectorate and RQIA frameworks are woven into the fabric of homecareOS, so you are always inspection-ready, not just when inspectors come knocking.
Stop Preparing for Inspections. Be Ready Always.
Compliance should not be a last-minute scramble before an inspection. With homecareOS, the records you already keep build the picture: every training record, recruitment check, supervision, risk assessment, incident and audit is matched against your regulator's framework for you to confirm, and your visit data feeds the quality figures an inspector will ask about. Compliance is not a separate task, it is how you work every day. New to the regulatory landscape? Our guide to home care compliance in the four UK nations explains how CQC, CIW, the Care Inspectorate and RQIA each approach domiciliary care.
Four nations, covered
CQC, CIW, Care Inspectorate and RQIA, built in from day one, not bolted on for England alone.
CQC, England
34 quality statements across the five key questions, 33 of which apply to a domiciliary agency. 21 are reached by automatic evidence rules, and the rest are linked by hand.
Care Inspectorate Wales
12 lines of enquiry across three themes, because Environment is accommodation-only. All 12 are reached by automatic evidence rules.
Care Inspectorate, Scotland
14 quality indicators graded 1 to 6. 10 are reached by automatic evidence rules.
RQIA, Northern Ireland
16 minimum standards, no grading. 14 are reached by automatic evidence rules.
An incident you cannot quietly file away
Most systems let you record an incident and mark it closed. The gap between those two clicks is where learning is supposed to happen, and where it usually does not.
Six stages, and a close that has to be earned
- Stage completed
- Closed, still locked
- Closed, now permitted
An incident runs through six stages: reported, under investigation, root cause identified, actions assigned, learning shared, closed. The last one is not a button somebody can simply press.
Closing requires all of it: an investigator named, a root cause chosen, at least one action, every one of those actions completed rather than merely raised, lessons written down, and the learning shared with someone. Until that is done the close button stays disabled, and the screen lists whatever is still outstanding. It is a small piece of friction, deliberately placed where the sector's worst habit lives.
Risk scored the way an inspector expects to see it
- Low, under 5
- Medium, 5 and above
- High, 10 and above
- Critical, 15 and above
Likelihood from one to five, impact from one to five, and the band follows from the two. The score is not typed in and it cannot drift: it is computed by the database from the two numbers, so a critical risk cannot be recorded as a medium one because somebody was optimistic on a Friday.
Existing controls and any further controls needed are recorded against the risk, along with a review date and the name of whoever last looked at it, so it is clear when the assessment was last reviewed and by whom.
Compliance That Works With You, Not Against You
Four-Nation Coverage
CQC (England), CIW (Wales), Care Inspectorate (Scotland), RQIA (Northern Ireland). One platform, all regulatory frameworks.
PIR Auto-Generation (England)
Provider Information Return data populated automatically from your live operations. No more weeks of manual data gathering. The PIR is a CQC instrument, so this one is England only, and we do not yet generate the annual returns Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland ask for.
Scheduled Audits
Schedule recurring audits by type and frequency, record each one against a checklist with findings and actions required, and see at a glance what is due or overdue. Build a culture of continuous improvement.
Incident Management
Log incidents, assign follow-up actions, track safeguarding referrals, and maintain complete timelines. Nothing falls through the cracks.
Self-Assessment Tools
Map your performance against regulatory frameworks with guided self-assessments that highlight gaps before inspectors find them.
Training Compliance Dashboard
Instant visibility into who's trained, who's expiring, and who's overdue. Anything within 30 days of expiry is flagged on the dashboard before it lapses.
Complete Regulatory Toolkit
CQC quality statement mapping
CIW Quality Framework alignment
Care Inspectorate quality indicators
RQIA standards tracking
PIR data auto-population (England only)
Compliance self-assessment builder
Scheduled audit management
Incident logging and tracking
Safeguarding referral management
Action plan tracking with deadlines
Nation-specific DBS/SCW/SSSC/NISCC tracking
Compliance dashboard with RAG status
Digital Forms, Confirmations and Carer Sign-off
Build any form or checklist once, send it to the carers who need it, and have them complete it on the app, signing where a read-and-confirm is required. Consent, spot checks, supervisions, competency checks, risk assessments and daily confirmations become structured, timestamped records instead of paper. Every submission and signature is captured with the carer's name and timestamped, and each one writes a line to an audit trail that no user can edit or delete, so you can evidence exactly who confirmed what, and when, for CQC, CIW, the Care Inspectorate or RQIA.
Form builder for reusable templates, no developer needed
Send or assign a form to the right carers, with a due date
Carers complete and submit on the app, with drafts saved as they go
Read-and-confirm sign-off on policies, where the carer can only sign after reading to the end
On read-and-confirm items, a drawn e-signature and the carer's typed name, timestamped
Each form snapshotted on send, so the record cannot drift after the fact
Overdue flags for anything still unconfirmed, and one click to chase everyone outstanding
An immutable audit trail of who confirmed what, and when
Attestations you can show an inspector in seconds, across all four nations
The Cost of Compliance Failures
England's indicators are seeded from CQC's own published quality statements. See CQC guidance on Regulation 17.
Missed and rushed visits are a recognised safety and quality risk in the research. It's why homecareOS flags late and missed visits in real time.
See the evidence →Compliance, Answered Properly
Audit trails, the four UK regulators, the PIR, incidents and internal audits.
Be Inspection-Ready from Day One
See how homecareOS keeps your agency compliant across all four UK nations, without the stress of last-minute preparation.
Compare homecareOS to your current software
See how we stack up against every major UK home care platform, feature by feature, transparent pricing, no fluff.