How to register as a domiciliary care provider in England

Planning to start-up a new homecare business? Fantastic! 👏 We admire you, and our communities need you more than ever.

If you will be based in England, here is an overview of what you need to do to register as a new homecare provider with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We do our best to keep this article up to date, but it's always best to check directly with the CQC for the very latest guidance. Information for new providers in the rest of the UK, Ireland and Finland will be coming very soon!

Jump to:

Basic checks before you apply
The evidence you'll need to show the CQC
Filling in the application forms
Final checks

New processes to tackle delays in CQC registration - July 2025

The CQC has introduced new processes to try to address the significant delays that homecare providers have been experiencing in registering with the CQC.

The delays were revealed in the damning Dash review, which investigated the operational efficiency of the CQC at the request of the UK government. It found that in 2024, 54% of applications were taking more than the guideline of 10 weeks to process (compared with 22% in 2023). And in some cases, the delay was longer than 6 months.

It’s a challenge we’ve seen for many of our start-up customers here at Nursebuddy. Homecare providers are ready to start delivering care, with clients in need of support and carers lined up for work, but their businesses stall while waiting for the necessary sign-off from the CQC. This was echoed in the Dash review, which found that the backlog in registrations was a particular problem for small providers trying to set up a new domiciliary care service, as it tended to result in lost revenues and investment, which had a knock-on impact on capacity.

What are the changes to the CQC registration process for domiciliary care providers?

To tackle the backlog, the CQC is putting the onus on care providers to get their paperwork right in the first instance.

New applications will be checked for whether:

forms are complete
basic details are correct
providers have sent the right supporting documents

If any information is missing or incorrect, the application will be rejected and the CQC will email new homecare providers explaining why.

Homecare providers can then correct and resubmit their registration documents, but this will count as a new application and will not keep its place in the queue.

So check your application thoroughly!

If an application passes the initial checks, it will go on to be assessed. That means the CQC will review the evidence that’s been submitted, and may also interview the business owner/registered manager and/or visit the office base.

> Follow the CQC’s guide to registering a new domiciliary care business.

How to register as a domiciliary care provider with the CQC

Here is a quick summary of what new homecare providers need to do to register with the CQC. Remember to always refer back to the latest CQC registration instructions.

1. Before you apply

You will need to have these basics in place before you can start your homecare business:

Check whether you need to register - personal care is a regulated activity and you must register with the CQC to legally provide that service
Understand your responsibilities - know the laws and standards you are expected to meet
Identify who you need - the CQC requires your care company to have two roles in place to ensure it is run properly. These can be the same person:
- Nominated individual - a senior leader who will supervise how the business is managed and governed, so that it meets all legal and regulatory requirements
- Registered manager - an experienced person in charge of the day-to-day running of the care company
Have the right training and qualifications - for example, registered managers need a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Adult Care
Apply for DBS checks - a background check for criminal activity
Set-up a suitable office base - a physical address in England where you can keep records and manage the service

2. Gather your evidence

Next you will need to produce the documents that prove you have a plan for your new homecare business and demonstrate how you will run it legally with a high standard of care.

The documents the CQC needs to see are:

Business plan and financial forecast - how you’ll meet the needs of the people who will use your service and ensure your business remains viable
Statement of purpose - describes what services you will offer, who you will be caring for, and where you will provide care
Evidence of legal occupancy - confirmation you have legal permission to use your office base to run a care service
Insurance certificates - either public liability or public and employer liability, depending on whether it or not it will be just you to begin with
Staff training plan - how you will meet the standards of the Care Certificate
Service user guide - information you will give out to people using your services
Complaints policy- how you will collect, deal with and learn from customer complaints
Consent policy and procedures - how you will ensure you have the right consent to provide care to people
Equality, diversity and human rights policy and procedures - how you will meet your legal obligations to provide inclusive care that respects people’s rights
Governance policy and procedures - how you will make sure your organisation is well run, including:
- your organisational structure and lines of command and decision-making
- how you will assess and audit your service to check for quality, safety and legal compliance
- how you will learn and keep making your service better
- ways of gathering feedback from people you care for
- your systems for keeping records (for example, you might want to consider having some homecare software like Nursebuddy in place 😉)
Infection control policy and procedures - how you will protect people from the risks of infection and meet your legal obligations in this area
Medicines management policy and procedures - how you will manage medications safely and avoid harm to service users and staff
Recruitment policy and procedures - how you will hire staff in a way that is fair, inclusive and meets your legal obligations
Safeguarding policy and procedures - how people can raise any concerns they might have about abuse within your care organisation

Nursebuddy Policies - powered By Bettal, can help you with ready-made policies, procedures and other documents which you can tailor for your business. A 99% success rate for CQC registration.

3. Fill in your forms

Now it’s time to fill in your CQC application. Buckle up, these are some long forms. You’ll need to complete the:

New provider application form
New manager application form (unless you are the only person in your business)

It’s really important that you fill in EVERY field on each form and make sure that the information you provide is accurate. Otherwise, you’ll have to start again. 😧

4. Final checks

Before you submit your application to the CQC, check everything. Follow the CQC’s checklist to make sure you have completed all the forms, gathered all the right evidence and labelled everything correctly.

When you’re ready, email your application to the CQC. Make sure you email everything all together as they won’t accept your application if you forget something. You can send multiple emails though if you have some big files to attach. Follow the CQC’s guidance on what your email needs to look like.

And that’s it! Sit back and wait for the CQC to get in touch about any further evidence they may need from you and for the result of their decision. We wish you the best of luck! ✨

Find out more about how Nursebuddy helps new homecare providers.