CQC policy requirements for live-in care
Live-in care providers place a carer in the person's own home, often for weeks at a time. CQC regulates the personal care, and because the carer works alone in someone's home for long periods, your policies need to cover that arrangement in detail.
Usual regulated activity: Personal care
Core policies
- Safeguarding adults (and children, where relevant), including how to raise and escalate concerns
- Complaints handling, with timescales and how people can escalate outside the service
- Duty of candour (Regulation 20) and incident reporting
- Recruitment and fit and proper persons checks, including DBS (Regulation 19)
- Staff training, supervision and induction (Regulation 18)
- Consent and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (Regulation 11)
- Data protection, confidentiality and record keeping (Regulation 17)
- Whistleblowing / speaking up
- Equality, diversity and human rights
Live-in care specific areas
- Lone working, staff safety and check-in arrangements
- Carer breaks, rest periods and cover arrangements
- Entering and living in someone's home, house rules and boundaries
- Medicines support in line with NICE guideline NG67
- Missed or failed care and emergency backup if a carer is ill
- Handling money, shopping and household expenses
- Moving and handling in the home
- Community deprivation of liberty and the Court of Protection
How CQC looks at your policies
Under CQC's single assessment framework, evidence is grouped under five key questions: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. Organising your library the same way makes it easier to show inspectors where each policy fits. Regulation 17 (good governance) expects you to keep policies current and to check they're followed, which is why a dated record of staff reading each version is useful evidence.
Frequently asked questions
Is live-in care regulated the same way as domiciliary care?
Yes — both are usually registered for the regulated activity of personal care. The difference is practical: your policies must cover a carer living in the person's home, including breaks, cover and lone working.
How do I evidence that a live-in carer has read my policies?
A digital sign-off lets each carer confirm they've read the current version from their phone, wherever they're placed, with a time-stamped record for inspection.
Let MyCarePolicies keep this up to date for you
A managed policy library grouped by the five key questions, updated for you, with staff notified and proof they've read each version.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. MyCarePolicies is not affiliated with or endorsed by CQC. Other guides: Care homes, Nursing homes, Domiciliary care, Supported living, Multi-location providers.