Travel, driving and mobile working policy (domiciliary care)

1. What the regulation says

Care and treatment must be provided in a safe way for service users. (Reg 12(1) (the headline duty))

assessing the risks to the health and safety of service users of receiving the care or treatment, (Reg 12(2)(a) (risk assessment))

doing all that is reasonably practicable to mitigate any such risks, (Reg 12(2)(b) (risk mitigation))

ensuring that persons providing care or treatment to service users have the qualifications, competence, skills and experience to do so safely, (Reg 12(2)(c) (staff competence))

Regulation 17 adds the governance and records duties this policy operationalises:

Systems or processes must be established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements in this Part. (Reg 17(1): the umbrella duty)

The full text is at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2936/regulation/12 and https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2936/regulation/17. Where this policy and the regulation diverge, the regulation wins.

2. Plain-English summary

Care and treatment must be provided in a safe way. The regulation lists the areas a provider must address, including risk assessment, risk mitigation, staff competence, safe premises, safe equipment, sufficient equipment and medicines, medicines safety, infection prevention and shared-care planning. Regulation 12 is central to CQC's safety expectations. For a home care service this means travel between visits is planned so it can be done safely, workers who drive are legal and fit to drive, and the records and devices carried between homes are protected.

3. Purpose

Home care workers spend a large part of the day travelling between visits, often carrying records and a work device. This policy sets out how the Service keeps workers safe while they travel, makes sure those who drive are legal and fit to do so, and protects the information workers carry between homes.

The Service must verify this policy against current health and safety and road traffic law and its own insurance arrangements before adoption.

4. Scope

This policy applies to:

• travel between visits and to and from the first and last visit, by car, on foot, by bicycle or by public transport
• driving on the Service's business, whether in the worker's own vehicle or a Service vehicle
• the records and devices workers carry while travelling

5. Roles and responsibilities

• Registered Manager: owns this policy, approves driving and mobile-working checks, reviews accidents and makes sure actions are completed.
• Care coordinator or rota lead: plans realistic rounds, monitors delays, records travel-time concerns and changes rounds where travel is unsafe.
• Line managers or supervisors: check driving documents, follow up accidents, support workers who raise fatigue, safety or travel concerns, and review spot-check evidence.
• Care workers: travel safely, do not rush or drive while unfit, protect records and devices, report delays, accidents, lost devices and unsafe travel routes.
• Data protection lead or nominated manager: reviews lost records, lost devices or exposed information as possible personal data breaches.

6. Travel and mobile-working procedure

The Service follows this procedure:

1. Plan the round. Build in realistic travel time, breaks, parking or public-transport constraints and known access risks.
2. Confirm driver checks. Before a worker drives for the Service, record licence, MOT where needed, business-use insurance and any fitness-to-drive declaration required by local procedure.
3. Check route safety. Consider lone-working risk, evening visits, isolated areas, winter weather, travel after incidents and any known risk at the address.
4. Protect records and devices. Confirm how paper records, phones, tablets, keys and access details are secured during travel.
5. Monitor delays. Workers tell the office when travel will make a visit late or unsafe. The office updates the person and arranges cover where needed.
6. Respond to incidents. Road accidents, lost devices, lost records, threats, assaults, breakdowns and near misses are recorded and reviewed.
7. Change the plan. Where travel time, fatigue, route risk or repeated delay creates unsafe care, the round is changed rather than expecting workers to compensate.

7. Planning travel that can be done safely

The Service plans rounds with realistic travel time so that workers are not pushed to rush or to drive unsafely to make up time. Travel time is treated as part of the working day. Where travel cannot realistically be done in the time allowed, the round is changed.

8. Driving on the Service's business

A worker who drives for the Service:

• holds a valid driving licence for the vehicle
• holds motor insurance that covers business use, and an MOT where the vehicle needs one
• keeps the vehicle roadworthy
• drives within the law, including speed limits and the rules on using a phone, and never uses a hand-held phone while driving
• does not drive if they are not fit to do so, for example through tiredness, illness, medication or a medical condition that affects driving

The Service checks driving licences and business-use insurance on a stated cadence and keeps a record.

9. Travelling on foot or by public transport

Where workers travel on foot, by bicycle or by public transport, the Service considers their personal safety, especially after dark, as part of the lone-working risk assessment. Routes, lighting and waiting points are taken into account, and workers know how to raise a concern.

10. Protecting records and devices in transit

Workers often carry care records and a work device between homes. The Service:

• keeps paper records and devices out of sight and secure while travelling, and never leaves them on display in a vehicle
• protects work devices with a passcode and the Service's agreed security settings
• tells workers what to do if a record or device is lost or stolen, and treats any such loss as a possible data breach to be reported at once

11. Breakdowns, delays and not being able to reach a visit

The Service tells workers what to do if they break down, are delayed, or cannot reach a visit, including how to contact the office or on-call so that the person's care can be covered (see the visit scheduling, missed and late visits policy). A worker does not drive unsafely to make up lost time.

12. Road traffic accidents

A worker involved in a road traffic accident while working follows the law at the scene, gets help for anyone injured, and reports the accident to the Service as soon as it is safe to do so. The Service records it and reviews whether anything about the round or the journey contributed.

13. Expenses

The Service states how it pays for mileage or travel costs and how workers claim them, so that the arrangement is clear and fair. (The Service completes its own travel-pay terms here.)

14. Records and register links

The Service keeps a record of driving checks, travel risks and mobile-working incidents. The record should include:

• worker name and driving status
• licence, MOT and business-use insurance check dates
• any fitness-to-drive declaration or driving restriction
• round or visit affected by travel risk
• delay, breakdown, accident, near miss, assault, lost record or lost device
• immediate action taken and who was told
• whether a visit became late or missed
• whether an incident, data-breach record, risk entry or improvement action was opened
• follow-up action, owner and due date

Travel incidents that affect care are linked to the incident register. Lost records or devices are assessed under the data-breach process. Repeated delay, unsafe routing, worker fatigue or high-risk travel routes are reviewed through the risk register and improvement-actions register.

15. Training and supervision

Workers must be trained on safe travel, driving while fit, mobile-device security, records in transit, lone-working escalation, late-visit escalation and what to do after an accident, breakdown, threat or lost device. Supervisors use spot checks, supervision and rota review to check that travel time is realistic and workers are not being pressured into unsafe travel.

16. Audit cadence

The Service checks, on a stated cadence, that:

• rounds are planned with realistic travel time
• driving licences and business-use insurance are checked and current for workers who drive
• records and devices carried in transit are protected, and any loss is reported as a possible data breach
• accidents are recorded and reviewed

The Registered Manager reviews the results and records the improvement actions that follow.

17. Sources and further reading

This template is based on CQC's guidance for providers and managers, the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, and other topic-specific legislation and guidance listed below. It is a starting point for adaptation, not a substitute for legal, clinical, HR, safeguarding or specialist professional advice.

• CQC Regulation 12: Safe care and treatment
• CQC Regulation 17: Good governance
• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/section/2)
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3242/contents)
• Road Traffic Act 1988 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/contents)
• HSE driving and riding safely for work guidance (https://www.hse.gov.uk/roadsafety/)
• HSE lone-working guidance; violence and aggression guidance
• DVLA guidance on fitness to drive (https://www.gov.uk/health-conditions-and-driving)
• UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, for records and devices carried between homes (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/12/contents)
• ICO personal data breach guidance; ICO reporting breach tool
• Domiciliary care: missed and late visits sources, where a journey prevents a visit being reached (NICE NG21 / home care guidance; CQC Reg 9/12/17/18; local authority contract rules)

18. Related reading

• Guide: Domiciliary care compliance guide
• Article: CQC compliance for domiciliary care: the evidence inspectors expect
• Related policy: Lone working and personal safety policy
• Related policy: Visit scheduling, missed and late visits

19. When to seek further advice

Seek specialist advice where the issue involves serious harm, safeguarding, deprivation of liberty, restraint, children, professional misconduct, controlled drugs, radiation, termination of pregnancy, infection outbreak, water safety, employment dismissal, DBS barring referral, or regulatory enforcement.

20. Document control

This sample policy template was issued by Verivius. It is a template, not a substitute for legal advice or the tenant's own policy-development process. Where this template and live law or regulator guidance diverge, the live source wins.