Guide
Domiciliary care CQC compliance: policies, procedures and guidance
Home care is judged on evidence the manager often cannot watch being made, in people’s own homes. This guide gathers the policies, procedure checklists, regulations and articles a domiciliary service has to get right, in one place.
What CQC weighs in domiciliary care
Domiciliary care is inspected under the same five key questions as every CQC-registered service, but the evidence focus is shaped by one fact: the care happens in someone’s home, usually with one worker present and no clinical setting around them.
That puts weight on things a care home does not have to prove in the same way: that visits are not missed or cut short, that lone workers are safe and supported, that medicines are given and recorded correctly in the home, and that a change in someone’s condition is escalated quickly when the carer may be the only person who sees it. The materials below are organised around that evidence trail.
Start with the guidance
Reads that frame what CQC inspectors actually look for in home care.
CQC local authority assessments
What care providers should learn from CQC local authority assessments: safeguarding, prevention, unpaid carers, reviews, transitions and commissioning evidence.
CQC compliance for domiciliary care
Why a policy folder is not enough, and the connected evidence CQC expects across assessment, visits, medicines, safeguarding and governance.
Lone working policy and procedure
The policy and the check-in procedure that protect a worker alone in someone's home, and how an inspector tests whether they actually run.
Policies for home care
8 sample policies written for community delivery. Each is a starting point to adapt to your service, roles and local arrangements, not a document to adopt unchanged.
- Domiciliary care
Lone working and personal safety policy (domiciliary care)
Example home care lone working and personal safety policy: per-visit risk, check-in and check-out, and the right to leave an unsafe visit. Guidance to adapt to your service.
- Domiciliary care
Visit scheduling, missed and late visits policy (domiciliary care)
Example domiciliary care policy for visit scheduling, missed and late visits, call monitoring and the no-access protocol. A structure to adapt to your own service.
- Domiciliary care
Domiciliary care medication support policy template
Example domiciliary care medication policy template for home care, built around NICE NG67: prompting, assisting and administering medicines in the home.
- Domiciliary care
Entry to the home, keys and access policy (domiciliary care)
Example policy for entering the home, key safes and access codes as personal data, and the no-access route. A structure for domiciliary services to adapt.
- Domiciliary care
Moving and handling in the community policy (domiciliary care)
Example moving and handling policy for care in the home: per-home assessment, equipment checks and no unsafe manual lifting. Guidance to adapt to your service.
- Domiciliary care
Travel, driving and mobile working policy (domiciliary care)
Example travel, driving and mobile working policy for home care: realistic rounds, licence and insurance checks, and protecting records in transit. Adapt to your service.
- Domiciliary care
Service-delivery continuity policy (domiciliary care)
Example service continuity policy for domiciliary care: who to visit first and how to cover and communicate when staff, weather or systems fail. A structure to adapt.
- Domiciliary care
Community deprivation of liberty and the Court of Protection policy (domiciliary care)
Example policy on deprivation of liberty in the home: the Mental Capacity Act, why DoLS does not apply, and the Court of Protection route. Guidance to adapt.
Checklists
Audit and readiness checklists to self-check a single area before an inspection.
- Reg 12
Missed and late visits checklist
An audit and readiness checklist for domiciliary care services to evidence safe handling of missed and late visits.
- Reg 12
CQC medicines management audit checklist
A cross-sector medicines audit checklist for CQC-regulated providers, focused on records, storage, administration, controlled drugs, incidents and audit.
The general checklists (safeguarding, infection control, incidents) apply to home care too. Browse the full checklist library.
The regulations that carry the most weight
The standards a community service is most often tested against, each with the duty quoted from the primary source.
Regulation 9: person-centred care
Care shaped around the person, evidenced from the home.
Regulation 12: safe care and treatment
Safe care out of sight: risk, medicines and lone working.
Regulation 13: safeguarding
Recognising and referring abuse and neglect.
Regulation 17: good governance
The living records that show the service is well-led.
Mental Capacity Act decisions
Capacity and best-interests records for decisions made in the home.
Statutory notifications
What CQC has to be told about, and when.
See the domiciliary care setup in your service
The policies and checklists are free to download and adapt. Verivius loads the domiciliary care content into your account from day one, so missed-visit and lone-working oversight, medication records, Mental Capacity Act decisions and CQC notifications sit in one structured trail. A Verivius consultant (an ex-CQC inspector) can also work through any of this with you against the live regulation and your service shape.
Free to start, no card. A 14-day trial when you subscribe.
Last reviewed 14 July 2026