Home Care in Horley

Horley has 31 CQC registered home care agencies. 18 are rated Good, 3 Outstanding, 2 Requires improvement, and 8 have not yet been rated. 19 of the 31 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Choosing a home care agency in Horley and what to look for

Home care can mean one short visit a day or a package of several calls, and occasionally live in support. The work happens in someone's own house with nobody else present, so reliability and continuity carry more weight than anything in a brochure.

Being clear about what is needed

Begin with the practical shape of the week: when help is needed, how long each call should last, and exactly what it has to cover. Personal care, prompting with medication, meals, shopping and company are the usual requests, but agencies differ considerably in how they handle memory loss, moving and handling, or a relative who resists help at the start. Ask how many different carers would attend over a fortnight, since a constantly changing rota unsettles most people. Ask what happens when a regular carer is away, and how much notice you would be given if a visit had to move. The answers to those two questions separate the agencies that plan their rotas from the ones that improvise.

Making use of the inspection record

Every rating rests on five judgements, covering whether a service is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. Three agencies on this list have been judged Outstanding and seventeen are rated Good, while nine have yet to be inspected at all, which is normal for newer registrations. Where a service sits at Requires Improvement, read what the inspectors actually found and ask the manager what has changed since the visit. Check the date of any report too, because a small agency can look quite different a year or two on, particularly where the registered manager has changed in the meantime.

Arranging care and working out who pays

The funding route for care at home follows much the same path as residential care, though the sums are easier to follow because they are charged by the hour.

The care needs assessment

Anyone who appears to need care and support can ask for an assessment, whatever their savings, and there is no charge for it. It considers personal care, mobility, nutrition, memory, medication and the risks of managing alone, ending in a written record of what support is required. Surrey County Council Adult Social Care carries out that assessment and the financial assessment that decides what public funding contributes. Where support is agreed, ask whether it could be paid as a direct payment, since that usually leaves the choice of agency with the family.

Rates, visits and notice

Agencies set their own rates, shaped by the time of day, the length of each visit, the skills needed and whether weekends and bank holidays are involved. Ask for the rate in writing, ask what the shortest visit is that a provider will accept and ask how travel time between calls is treated. Check how quickly a package can be increased if needs change and what notice each side must give. Where the council contributes, confirm whether its rate covers the full charge or leaves a difference for the family to meet.

Local care news in Surrey

• New 30 bed care home registered with CQC in Waverley: Bridge House Care Home (5 November 2026)
• CQC register adds a new care home in Waverley: Cedar Court Care Home (5 November 2026)

More local care news for Surrey

Related searches

• Care Homes in Horley
• Nursing Homes in Horley

Home Care near Horley

• Crawley
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