Can Essex County Council pay towards care at home?

It can, once a needs assessment has identified the support required and a financial assessment has been completed. Income, savings and capital are measured against nationally set thresholds to determine whether the authority contributes and how much the person pays. Funded support may be arranged directly by the council or given as a personal budget so that you choose an agency yourself. The same assessments apply later if needs grow to the point where residential care is being considered.

How do I arrange a care needs assessment in Basildon?

Contact Essex County Council and ask for an adult social care needs assessment, by telephone or through its website. The assessment is free and open to anyone who appears to need care and support, whatever their financial position. A practitioner will discuss daily living, mobility, memory, medication and safety at home, often during a visit. The written outcome sets out what support has been identified and underpins any funding decision.

How early should home care be arranged?

It is better to start when managing alone begins to feel uncertain than to wait for a fall or a hospital admission. Assessments take time, and the agencies with the strongest reputations cannot always take someone on immediately. Introducing a small amount of help early also lets the person get used to a carer coming into the house. Building support up gradually tends to work better than starting with several visits a day.

Which home care agencies in Basildon are listed here?

Fifty three home care agencies appear on this page, all registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide personal care in people's own homes. One is rated Outstanding and twenty two are rated Good, while three are rated Requires Improvement and twenty seven have not yet been inspected. Each entry links to a profile carrying the rating where one has been published, along with registration details and inspection history. Checking which agencies cover your area at the hours you need is the fastest way to narrow the list.

What should I ask an agency before care begins?

Ask how many different carers will visit over a fortnight and how the agency protects continuity. Ask what it does when a carer is ill, how quickly you are told about a late call and who is available out of hours. Request the hourly rates in writing, including weekend and bank holiday charges, and check the notice period. Ask as well how each visit is recorded and how often the care plan is reviewed.

How does home care compare with moving into a care home?

Home care brings carers to a person at agreed times and leaves them independent in their own house in between. A care home provides accommodation with staff available day and night, while a nursing home adds registered nurses on site for clinical needs. The choice usually turns on how safe someone is when alone and how much support is needed overnight. Many families use home care for as long as it works and consider residential care only when help has to be constant.

Home Care in Basildon

Basildon has 53 CQC registered home care agencies. 22 are rated Good, 1 Outstanding, 3 Requires improvement, and 27 have not yet been rated. 21 of the 53 were last inspected more than three years ago.

Source: Care Quality Commission register, kept up to date as ratings change.

Basildon at a glance

What the local numbers say about home care in Basildon, to help you judge the options below.

Hourly care visits, East of England: £26.00 to £34.30 an hour. Middle half of prices from 15 agencies.
People aged 75 and over: 16,700. Rising to 18,100 by 2035, up 8%
Living with dementia, aged 65 and over (estimate): 2,200. Rising to 2,500 by 2035, up 16%
People aged 85 and over: 4,300. Rising to 5,900 by 2035, up 38%
Dementia diagnosis rate: 60%. The NHS ambition is 67%. Essex as a whole is 67%.
Agencies in the borough, last 12 months: 2 opened, 5 closed. 63 registered today.
Choice of agencies: 246 within 10 miles. In a typical neighbourhood. The nearest is under a mile away (0.3 miles).

Powered by Orrery Intelligence. Market model built 22 October 2026 (ONS 2022 based population projections, CQC register), published care home prices, council planning records.

Planning and paying for care at home in Basildon

Support at home can be bought privately from tomorrow, but it is usually worth going through the local authority first. An assessment costs nothing, records formally what help has been identified and is the only route to funded support.

Requesting a care needs assessment

Every adult who appears to need care and support is entitled to a free assessment, whatever they have in the bank. Ask Essex County Council Adult Social Care, the authority responsible for assessments and funded support in this area, to arrange one. A practitioner will go through washing and dressing, mobility, memory, medication, meals and how safe the house has become, then write down the support identified. If you have been providing that help yourself, ask for a carer's assessment alongside it, because your own capacity is part of what needs recording.

What care at home costs

A financial assessment then sets income, savings and capital against thresholds fixed nationally to decide whether the authority contributes. Charges for home care usually follow the number of visits each week and how long each one lasts, so the weekly total moves as the pattern of support changes. Ask every agency for its rates in writing, including what is charged at weekends and on bank holidays, and check the notice period for changing or ending the arrangement. Ask too how missed visits are handled and credited.

Choosing an agency and what to check before signing

Fifty three agencies is a long list, and it shortens quickly once you establish which of them genuinely cover your street at the hours you need. Availability at seven in the morning is where many arrangements fall down, so raise it early. Once the list is down to a handful, the differences that matter are continuity of carers, how the agency handles absence and what inspectors have said about the way it is run.

Continuity, cover and the questions that matter

Ask how many different carers a person is likely to see over a fortnight, since familiarity does more for wellbeing than almost anything else. Ask what happens when a carer is off sick, whether travel time between calls is built into the rota, and how much notice you get when a visit will be late. Find out who answers the telephone on a Sunday evening, how care plans are reviewed and what training carers have for the conditions involved.

Making sense of the inspection picture

One agency here is rated Outstanding and twenty two are rated Good, with three rated Requires Improvement and twenty seven not yet rated. Where a report exists, read what inspectors said about whether the service is responsive and well led, because late and missed calls surface there first. Where an agency has no published rating, ask when it registered, how many people it currently supports and whether families already using it would speak to you. A new agency is not necessarily a poor one, but it does put more weight on your own judgement.

53 home care in Basildon (showing 1–50)

Amazing Grace Personnel · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Potton Services · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
ADHOCS CARE SOLUTIONS · Basildon, Essex
Advance Careprovider · Basildon, Essex
Dion Care Services · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Hilltop Care · Basildon, Essex
Utmost Care · Basildon, Essex
Excellence Care · Basildon, Essex · CQC Outstanding
Astra House · Basildon, Essex
Poplar House · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Ros and Mos House Support · Basildon, Essex · CQC Requires improvement
SOUTH · Basildon, Essex
Seccare+ · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
DJ Kares · Basildon, Essex
Home Instead · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Treasure Vince · Basildon, Essex · CQC Requires improvement
Unibekk Care Services · Basildon, Essex
Kingswood Care Services · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Remaj Care · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Serene Pathways · Basildon, Essex
Together Care · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Favour Care · Basildon, Essex
London Care · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Yemlister Care · Basildon, Essex
South Special Needs Housing Association (SESNHA) · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Hospice at Home · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Oak Barn Homecare · Basildon, Essex
South Domiciliary Care · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
MTS Healthcare · Basildon, Essex
RUMAX · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
JESS FORESIGHT HEALTHCARE · Basildon, Essex
JNJ Support Services · Basildon, Essex
Sycamore Staffing · Basildon, Essex
ECL South · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Marlyn Recruitment · Basildon, Essex
Care Quality Services Maldon · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Guardian Homecare · Basildon, Essex
Cera - and Havering · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Cornwallis Business Centre · Basildon, Essex
3 Broadway Chambers · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Forever Unique Care · Basildon, Essex
Stormwaves Care · Basildon, Essex
Kemfa Services · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Alina Homecare · Basildon, Essex
J.C.Michael Groups · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Prompt Healthcare Staffing · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Caronne Care Branch · Basildon, Essex · CQC Good
Care Quality Services South · Basildon, Essex
Sylyve Home Care · Basildon, Essex
Satellite Health Care · Basildon, Essex

What home care costs

Type of care	What it costs
Hourly care visits, East of England Middle half of prices from 15 agencies. Median £31.88. Shown for East of England because too few Essex agencies publish a rate.	£26.00 to £34.30 an hour
What Essex pays Average hourly rate, October 2026.	£28.04 an hour
Homecare Association minimum price 2026 to 2027. The Association's estimate of the lowest price that covers the cost of delivering care. It is not a legal minimum.	£34.42 an hour
Live in care, England Middle half of prices from 62 agencies. Median £1,455.	£1,250 to £1,668 a week

Published prices come from agencies that publish rates, so treat them as a guide. Ask the agency for its own price. Powered by Orrery Intelligence.

Inspected most recently

Kemfa Services Limited, 13 October 2025, Good
J.C.Michael Groups Ltd Basildon, 30 September 2025, Good
Ros and Mos House Support Ltd, 22 April 2025, Requires improvement

Longest since a report

Together Care, 26 May 2018, Good
Prompt Healthcare Staffing Limited, 7 September 2018, Good
Poplar House, 13 February 2019, Good

Frequently asked questions about home care in Basildon

How many home care agencies are there in Basildon?

Basildon has 53 CQC registered home care agencies: 1 Outstanding, 22 Good, 3 Requires improvement, 27 not yet rated. Counts come from the CQC register and are kept up to date as ratings change.

How much does home care cost in Basildon?

Hourly care visits, East of England: £26.00 to £34.30 an hour. Middle half of prices from 15 agencies. Median £31.88. Shown for East of England because too few Essex agencies publish a rate. Published prices come from agencies that publish rates, so treat them as a guide. Ask the agency for its own price.

Which home care agencies in Basildon were inspected most recently?

Kemfa Services Limited (13 October 2025), J.C.Michael Groups Ltd Basildon (30 September 2025) and Ros and Mos House Support Ltd (22 April 2025) have the most recent CQC reports.

Local care news in Essex

New 55 bed care home registered with CQC in Basildon: Oaklands (Essex) (5 November 2026)
Highfield Care Home registered as a 60 bed care home in Uttlesford (5 November 2026)

More local care news for Essex