CQC registration checklist for new home care agencies
Starting a care agency is a lot to hold in your head. homecareOS gives you a guided CQC registration checklist you can start for free before you are registered, so you arrive at inspection organised, evidenced and ready to deliver care from day one.
Start Before You Are Registered
Getting registered usually happens outside your care software, in folders, email threads and spreadsheets. homecareOS works the other way round. Request access while your application is still with the regulator, set your agency up properly, and work through a checklist built around your own nation's regulator, with every requirement and its evidence in one place. The day your registration lands, you are not starting from scratch. You are ready to roster carers and deliver your first visit.
From First Login to First Visit
Four steps that take you from a blank page to a registered, operating agency, without losing anything along the way.
1. Request access
Tell us about your agency, give us your Companies House or regulator number, and we will call you to confirm who you are. Once you are approved we email you a link that sets your agency up, with no software bill and no card. Your registration does not have to be granted first.
2. Work the checklist
Move through each registration requirement in order. The checklist tracks progress, holds your evidence, and shows you exactly what is left to do before you can submit.
3. Submit with confidence
Apply to your regulator with a complete, evidenced application. A tidy submission avoids the back and forth and delays that come from missing information.
4. Go live day one
When your registration is granted, your agency, your policies and your team are already in homecareOS. Build the rota, add service users, and deliver your first visit straight away.
Everything a New Provider Has to Get Right
The registration checklist covers the requirements a new domiciliary care provider is assessed on, so nothing is a surprise on submission.
Provider and manager registration
Track the provider registration and your named manager or responsible individual side by side, with the evidence each one needs for your nation's regulator. In England that is the separate provider and registered manager application forms, and the fit and proper person evidence behind them.
Statement of purpose
Set out who you are, the services you provide, your aims and the people you support, kept with the rest of your evidence.
Policies and procedures
Adopt a full set of regulator-aligned policies and procedures rather than writing them from a blank page.
DBS and background checks
Record DBS, PVG or AccessNI checks against each person, with the right check type for your nation and expiry dates tracked so you can see what is coming up.
Recruitment and safer hiring
Applications, references and right to work in one place, so your recruitment records stand up to scrutiny from day one.
Training and the Care Certificate
Track mandatory training and Care Certificate progress for every new starter, with anything expired or expiring soon flagged on your compliance dashboard.
Insurance and financial viability
Keep your insurance and the evidence of financial viability that the regulator asks a new provider to demonstrate.
Ready to deliver safe care
Care planning, medication and safeguarding processes set up and evidenced, so you can show you are ready to operate safely, not just on paper.
Registering in Any UK Nation
The checklist follows your nation's regulator, so it is right whether you are registering in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
England, CQC
Registered provider and manager, statement of purpose, DBS, and the policies to keep ready for inspection.
Wales, CIW
Registration with Care Inspectorate Wales, enhanced DBS checks for your responsible individual and manager, and Social Care Wales registration for your manager.
Scotland, Care Inspectorate
Registration with the Care Inspectorate, SSSC registration for your manager, and the PVG and cross-check steps the Care Inspectorate starts on your behalf.
Northern Ireland, RQIA
Registration with RQIA, enhanced AccessNI checks and NISCC registration for your person responsible and manager.
Once you are up and running, SSSC, Social Care Wales and NISCC registrations are tracked per carer on their own record, alongside the DBS, PVG or AccessNI check their nation requires.
Set Up Once, Then Just Keep Going
Free before you register
No software bill while you are still setting up. See how pricing works for when you grow.
Evidence in one place
Every document, check and policy lives in the platform, ready to show the regulator rather than scattered across folders and inboxes.
No double entry
The carers, policies and processes you set up for registration are the same ones you use to run the agency. Nothing is thrown away.
Compliance that continues
Registration is the start. The same records flow into ongoing four-nation compliance and your first inspection.
New to all of this? Our guide on how to start a home care agency in the UK walks through the whole journey, step by step.
CQC Registration: Frequently Asked Questions
Using the software before registration, timelines, and what the checklist covers.
Set your agency up the right way
Request access today and start the CQC registration checklist for free, or book a walkthrough and we will show you how new agencies get set up.
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.