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The practical guide to running a domiciliary care agency
Practical guides, checklists and calculators for starting, operating and growing a domiciliary care agency. Registration lessons apply to England; wider operational guidance carries its own jurisdiction label.
Built from CQC guidance, UK employment rules and real care-workforce workflows. Latest guidance review: 3 August 2026.
Explore available guides
Start with the decision that cannot wait.
All six practical pathways are open now, each with a decision process, checklist, records to keep and current official sources.
PATH 016 guide topics
Start a care agency
Define the service model, establish who will provide and manage it, and prepare a coordinated registration application.
- Define your care service
- Set up provider, manager and location
- Prepare your CQC application
PATH 025 guide topics
Recruit and onboard staff
Recruit suitable care workers, complete distinct pre-employment checks and prove competence before lone working.
- Safer recruitment
- Role and staff-file controls
- Competence and deployment
PATH 037 guide topics
Plan and deliver care
Turn assessed needs into covered visits, clear care instructions and evidence managers can review.
- Domiciliary care rota planning
- Missed and late visits
- Care-plan reviews
PATH 047 guide topics
Manage your care workforce
Keep availability, attendance, leave, supervision and safe staffing decisions visible.
- Safe staffing guide
- Staff file checklist
- Working time and rest
PATH 056 guide topics
Prepare for CQC
Build practical evidence from everyday care, governance and improvement activity.
- CQC inspection checklist
- Evidence categories
- Framework transition
PATH 067 guide topics
Run a profitable agency
Connect visit costs, travel, approved hours and payroll so margins are based on real delivery.
- Travel time and minimum wage
- Sleep-ins and waking nights
- Visit-to-payroll guide
Inside the live pathways
Featured practical guides
Jump straight to the checklist, decision or record you need inside each published pathway.
Plan → prove → approve → pay
One operational record, from planned visit to correct pay
A reliable service keeps the planned work, delivery evidence, manager decision and pay result connected.
- 01
Plan the visit
Start with assessed needs, risks, visit outcomes, duration and the skills required.
- Rota planning
- Safe staffing
- Skill matching
- 02
Prove it happened
Record attendance, task outcomes, notes, changes and exceptions against the planned visit.
- EVV
- Visit notes
- Missed visits
- 03
Approve the work
Investigate gaps and make a clear manager decision before records move downstream.
- Timesheets
- Exceptions
- Manager controls
- 04
Pay correctly
Use approved care time, travel, mileage and agreed pay rules to prepare payroll.
- Travel time
- Mileage
- Minimum wage
Live tools
Care operations calculators
Use live calculators and checkers to test care costs, visit risk and payroll assumptions before they become operational problems.
Checker · Ready to use
Care training and competency gap checker
Assess one worker’s learning, evidence, competence, authorisation, restrictions and scheduling eligibility.
Scorecard · Ready to use
Visit-to-payroll readiness scorecard
Diagnose weak controls across EVV, missed visits, manager approval and care payroll readiness.
Calculator · Ready to use
Care worker sick pay and cover cost calculator
Connect an individual absence to SSP, company pay, affected visits, cover cost and operational impact.
Checker · Ready to use
EVV readiness checker
Find gaps in arrival evidence, offline processes and missed-visit handling.
Calculator · Ready to use
Missed-visit cost calculator
Model the admin, revenue and service exposure created by unresolved visits.
Calculator · Ready to use
Domiciliary care hourly-rate calculator
Include wages, travel, mileage, on-costs, overhead and target margin.
Checker · Ready to use
Travel-time minimum-wage checker
Test how travel time, mileage and deductions affect effective hourly pay.
Find your starting point
Browse by your role
Start with the controls and records closest to your day-to-day responsibility.
Care agency owner
Pricing, margins, workforce capacity and the route from visits to payroll.
Registered manager
Care evidence, governance, staffing decisions and inspection readiness.
Care coordinator
Rotas, matching, visit delivery, exceptions and manager approval.
Payroll or finance lead
Travel, approved time, minimum-wage checks, payroll and reconciliation.
Source checked
Recently reviewed guidance
Current operational guides with visible review dates and direct links to official sources.
Care-worker probation and continuing competence
Current Acas probation guidance connected to CQC supervision and competence requirements.
Reviewed 3 August 2026CQC evidence and framework transition
Current CQC sources and the 2026 sector-framework pilot explained.
Reviewed 20 July 2026Travel time and National Minimum Wage
Required assignment travel, home-to-work exclusions and payroll controls.
Reviewed 20 July 2026Ethical care-worker recruitment
Current care-worker sponsorship boundary, ethical sourcing and candidate protections.
Reviewed 27 July 2026
Where Workmax fits
Keep the operational record connected.
Workmax connects care plans, rotas, visits, workforce records, approved time and payroll. The Care Hub explains the management decisions around that workflow.
Keep building the operating library
All six pathways are now open. These supporting guides are next on the editorial roadmap.
Calculating care-worker demand and usable capacity