How to Register a Home Care Agency with CQC (2026): Step by Step

CQC registration is the step most new home care agencies find hardest, mostly because applications are rejected for avoidable reasons. This is the process as CQC describes it, checked on 26 October 2026. For the wider picture, from setting up the company to finding clients, see our guide to starting a home care agency.

Before you apply

• Know who registers. The provider (you, a partnership or your company) and, unless you run the service yourself day to day, a registered manager. A company also names a nominated individual.
• Have an office in England. CQC does not accept PO boxes, or addresses in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or abroad.
• Get DBS checks through CQC. The provider, partners and registered manager need an enhanced check with barred list information, countersigned by CQC. Update Service and third-party certificates are not accepted, and checks over 12 months old mean the application is rejected. CQC says this can take up to 60 working days.
• Be ready to start. CQC asks for applications only "when everything is ready to start providing your services".

What to send

The forms are the main provider application, the manager application and an "Additional information for providers of personal care" form, which asks how you recruited your directors, nominated individual and manager, and for local market research showing demand for your service.

Every applicant also sends a statement of purpose; safeguarding, complaints, consent, medicines, infection control, recruitment, equality and governance policies; and a public and employer liability insurance quote or certificate. Home care agencies add a business plan and financial forecast, evidence of legal occupancy of the office, service user guides and a staff training plan.

What happens next

1. Initial checks: CQC checks the forms and statement of purpose are complete, then reviews the documents.
2. Assessment: CQC may interview you and your registered manager by phone, online or in person, and may visit your office. If you cannot agree a date within 28 days, the application may be returned or refused.
3. Decision: CQC checks you are likely to meet the fundamental standards, then issues its decision.

How long it takes

CQC says registration "can take a few months" and does not publish a fixed processing time. Its 2025/26 business plan target is for 80% of applications to have a decision within 10 weeks of a valid application. Time spent waiting for your information does not count towards that, so a complete, accurate application is the quickest route.

What it costs

There is no separate application fee: CQC's annual fee covers registration. The latest published fee for home care (2024/25) is £239 plus £54.305 per service user per location, so about £782 a year with 10 service users. CQC has not published newer figures, so check the current fee before you budget.

The most common reasons applications are rejected

• Missing or incorrect forms or documents: the application is rejected and "will not keep its place in the queue".
• DBS checks more than 12 months old, or not countersigned by CQC.
• An office address CQC does not accept.
• Applying before staff, premises and checks are ready.
• Not agreeing interview or visit dates within 28 days.

Show how you will run the service

CQC wants to see how you will plan, record and check care. Having your care planning, medication records, rota and training records set up before the interview makes it easier to answer with real examples. Care App gives new agencies all of these in one system, with care plan and risk assessment templates to start from, and a free month to set up.

General guidance, not legal advice. Sources: CQC: how to apply; CQC: DBS checks for registration; CQC: extra documents for home care; CQC fees; CQC business plan 2025/26.