Reports · CQC sector reports · Oct 2026
The State of Home Care in England
An analysis of the 15,708 home care agencies registered with CQC in England: how they are rated, how many have never been inspected, and where the gaps are.
The numbers
15,708 home care agencies (domiciliary care providers) are registered with the CQC in England, 51% of all adult social care locations. 10,018 (63.8%) hold a current overall rating. The other 5,690 (36.2%) do not, and 5,637 of those have never been inspected or assessed at all.
Among the agencies that are rated, quality looks better than in care homes: 13.0% fall below Good, against 17.5% of care homes. That comparison flatters home care. The CQC has reached fewer agencies, and the gap between the register and the ratings is the larger story.
Not seen in five years, or ever
9,708 agencies: 5,637 never inspected or assessed, 4,071 last seen more than five years ago.
Hold a current rating
10,018 of 15,708 agencies, against 91% of care homes.
Of rated agencies below Good
1,298 of 10,018: 1,238 Requires improvement and 60 Inadequate.
How they are rated
- Outstanding486 · 4.9%
- Good8,234 · 82.2%
- Requires improvement1,238 · 12.4%
- Inadequate60 · 0.6%
When they were last seen
- Never inspected or assessed5,637 · 35.9%
- 5 or more years ago4,071 · 25.9%
- 3 to 5 years ago2,945 · 18.7%
- 2 to 3 years ago659 · 4.2%
- Within 2 years2,396 · 15.3%
Key findings
Home care is over half the sector
15,708 of 30,641 adult social care locations (51%) are home care agencies.
36% of agencies have never been inspected or assessed
That is 5,637 agencies, against 8% of care homes. Adding the 4,071 last seen more than five years ago takes the figure to 61.8%.
New agencies are almost never visited
75% of the 7,161 agencies registered since January 2022 have never been inspected or assessed, against 3% of those registered earlier.
Rated agencies look better than care homes
13.0% are below Good, against 17.5% of care homes. The CQC has rated only the agencies it has reached, so the comparison says little about the 5,690 it has not.
The assessment model finds more problems
19.7% of agencies rated under the assessment model are below Good, against 10.3% of those rated by inspection. The CQC assessed riskier agencies first.
Leadership and safety are the weak points
98.5% of below-Good agencies fail on Well-led and 93.1% on Safe. Caring is the strongest domain: 16.1% fail on it.
Outstanding is the oldest rating
61.5% of Outstanding ratings are more than five years old, against 43.5% of Good ratings.
Where an agency is changes the odds
The West Midlands has the highest below-Good rate (19.6%) and the North East the lowest (6.2%). Luton leads the councils at 43.6%.
Figures are Bridgehead’s analysis of the CQC’s published register and ratings, as at 6 November 2026. Below Good means a rating of Requires improvement or Inadequate. Services that have closed are excluded. The full report sets out the method, the regional and council tables and the sources.
The series
The same data, cut by sector
- The State of Care Homes in England40% of care homes not inspected in five years, or ever
- The State of Primary Care in England60% of NHS GP practices not inspected in five years, or ever
- The State of Aesthetic Clinics in England67% of aesthetic clinics not inspected in five years, or ever
The State of Adult Social Care in England covers every adult social care service together, and the sector reports index compares the four side by side.
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Headland designs consultant-led, condition-specific care frameworks for UK care homes. It was founded by Dr Sheel Mehta and William Walter, and is a separate venture from Bridgehead.
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