As of 1st July 2025, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has introduced a revised registration process for new domiciliary care providers. These changes apply to any organisation looking to carry out the regulated activity of personal care in people’s homes and are aimed at ensuring services are safer and better prepared before delivering care.

The key shift is the introduction of a two-stage registration process, replacing the single-stage model used previously. This new approach brings a more structured and detailed assessment, placing greater emphasis on demonstrating readiness before and after registration.

At HLTH Group, we’re already supporting providers through this new process and helping them prepare for the increased scrutiny and expectations.

What’s Changed in the Registration Process?

Under the updated approach, new homecare providers must now complete two distinct stages:

1. Stage One – Service Set-Up Assessment

This first stage takes place before registration is granted. It focuses on the foundations of your proposed service. CQC expects applicants to demonstrate:

• Strong governance and leadership structures
• Effective recruitment and staffing plans
• Safeguarding and risk management processes
• Clear quality assurance and oversight arrangements

Applicants must also take part in a structured interview with the CQC, where the Nominated Individual and Registered Manager are asked to explain how the service will meet regulatory expectations in practice.

2. Stage Two – Operational Readiness Before Delivering Care

Once registration is approved, providers cannot begin delivering care immediately. Instead, they must inform the CQC when they are ready to support people, at which point the CQC will carry out a second check to ensure the service is ready.

At this stage, providers will need to show that:

• Staff have been safely recruited and trained
• Digital systems for care planning and incident reporting are in place
• The service is equipped and prepared to deliver care safely from day one

Only after this confirmation can care begin.

This new process introduces more checks and a longer lead-in time before becoming operational. In practice, this may require greater upfront investment in systems, staffing and governance, and clearer evidence of compliance readiness much earlier in the process.

The CQC’s focus is firmly on whether a provider can operate safely from the moment they begin delivering care — and that responsibility sits with the leadership team from day one.

HLTH Group has supported hundreds of providers through the CQC registration journey, and we’re already aligned with the new two-stage process. Our team of former inspectors and compliance experts can help you navigate each stage with confidence.

We offer:

• End-to-end registration support, including help with your application, Statement of Purpose and interview preparation
• Operational readiness reviews to ensure your team, systems and processes are inspection-ready before you begin care
• Policy and procedure development tailored to domiciliary care and mapped to the Single Assessment Framework
• HLTH Manage software, which supports compliance planning, audits, and monitoring from the outset

While the new process introduces more steps, it also creates a clear opportunity to build your service on solid foundations. Getting the right systems and people in place early on will not only help you meet CQC’s expectations – it will also set your service up for long-term success.

If you’re planning to register a new domiciliary care service, get in touch with HLTH Group to discuss how we can support you at every stage of the process.