How do you arrange a care needs assessment in Stevenage?

Contact the adult social care team at Hertfordshire County Council and explain what the person is finding difficult day to day. Anyone who appears to need care and support has a right to an assessment, and it is free whatever the household holds in savings. A practitioner usually visits at home to consider personal care, mobility, memory, medication and the strain on family carers. The written outcome sets out what support is needed and forms the basis of any funded help that follows.

Can Hertfordshire County Council help pay for care at home?

It can, where a care needs assessment establishes that support at home is the right form of care and a financial assessment shows capital below the national threshold. The council then contributes towards the cost while the person pays an assessed amount from income. Households with capital above the threshold arrange and fund the care themselves until savings fall to that level. Asking for both assessments is worthwhile in any case, because the outcome governs what help becomes available later.

Which home care providers are listed for Stevenage?

Forty nine providers match this search, all registered with the Care Quality Commission. They include Partners in Support, which holds an Outstanding rating, alongside Fortis Care Hertfordshire, Devoted Home Care Services and others shown on this page. Each has a profile carrying its current rating and, where an inspection has taken place, the report behind it. Reading the registration is worthwhile too, since it describes the care a provider is permitted to deliver.

What is the difference between a care home and a nursing home?

A residential care home provides somewhere to live with trained staff on hand for personal care, meals, medication and company. A nursing home offers that alongside registered nurses on duty at all hours, so it can meet clinical needs such as complex wound care, feeding tubes or unstable long term conditions. Care at home sits before either of them, supporting someone in their own house for as long as that remains safe and manageable. A care needs assessment should establish which of these three is the right fit at any given point.

How far in advance should home care be arranged?

Sooner is easier, because the better regarded agencies do not always have capacity at the exact times a family needs, particularly for early mornings and evenings. Where a hospital discharge is being planned, care is often arranged in a rush and continuity suffers as a result. Asking for an assessment early costs nothing and commits you to nothing. It also leaves time to talk to more than one agency and compare what each is offering.

What should you ask a home care agency in Stevenage?

Ask how many different carers will attend, how visits are covered during sickness and holidays, and whether you are told when a carer is running late. Find out how medicines are recorded, how care plans are written and reviewed, and who supervises the carers in the field. Ask what happens if your relative falls or becomes unwell between visits, and how a complaint would be handled. Request the hourly rate in writing, including any difference for evenings, weekends and bank holidays.

Home Care in Stevenage

Stevenage has 49 CQC registered home care agencies. 20 are rated Good, 1 Outstanding, 5 Requires improvement, and 23 have not yet been rated. 24 of the 49 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Stevenage at a glance

What the local numbers say about home care in Stevenage, 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: 7,000. Rising to 8,400 by 2035, up 19%
Living with dementia, aged 65 and over (estimate): 1,000. Rising to 1,200 by 2035, up 23%
People aged 85 and over: 2,000. Rising to 2,700 by 2035, up 37%
Dementia diagnosis rate: 80%. The NHS ambition is 67%. Hertfordshire as a whole is 64%.
Agencies in the borough, last 12 months: 0 opened, 4 closed. 39 registered today.
Choice of agencies: 151 within 10 miles. In a typical neighbourhood. The nearest is under a mile away (0.4 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.

Arranging home care in Stevenage and paying for it

Start with a care needs assessment

Support at home is easier to arrange well when someone has first established what is actually needed, and that costs nothing. Any adult who appears to need care and support can request a care needs assessment, carried out by Hertfordshire County Council Adult Social Care in its role as the authority responsible for assessing need and arranging funded support. A practitioner looks at washing, dressing, eating, mobility, memory, medication and the pressure carried by relatives, then sets out in writing what support would meet those needs. Even households intending to pay privately gain from that record, because it turns a vague sense that help is needed into a specific brief an agency can quote against.

What care at home costs

Home care is generally bought by the hour or by the visit, so the weekly cost depends on how many calls are needed and how long each one lasts. A financial assessment considers income, savings and property; where capital falls below the national threshold the council contributes towards the cost, and above it the care is funded privately. Ask each agency for its hourly rate in writing, and check whether evenings, weekends and bank holidays are charged differently. Ask too about minimum visit lengths, travel charges and what notice is required to change or cancel a call.

Choosing an agency and what to check

Reading the ratings

Forty nine agencies match this search in Stevenage. Partners in Support holds an Outstanding rating, twenty are rated Good, five are rated Requires Improvement and twenty three await a first inspection. That last group is large, so treat an absent rating as a prompt to ask more rather than as a warning in itself. Where a report does exist, read it rather than the label: it will tell you whether calls ran on time, whether medicines were handled safely and whether staff turnover was affecting continuity.

The questions that matter at home

Continuity is what families notice most, so ask how many different carers are likely to attend, whether the same faces come each week and how the agency covers sickness and holidays. Ask what happens when a carer is running late and whether you are told, how medicines are recorded, and how the agency responds if your relative has a fall between visits. Ask how care plans are written and reviewed, who supervises the carers and how a complaint is handled. Agencies such as Fortis Care Hertfordshire and Devoted Home Care Services each carry a profile here setting out their current position.

Matching the support to the person

Beyond quality, the practical fit decides whether an arrangement lasts. Think about the times of day when help is genuinely needed, whether that is getting up and washed in the morning, prompting at medication times or a sitting visit that gives a family carer a break. Consider whether the person would accept help more readily from a small local team than from a large one, and whether language, cultural background or the sex of the carer matters to them. Ask whether the agency can increase visits if needs change, and whether it supports people towards the end of life, since having to change provider at that stage is unsettling for everyone involved.

49 home care in Stevenage

Joy Caring Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Jadecare · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Elixonn Healthcare · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Stevenage · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Fortis Care · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Devoted Home Care Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Taks Healthcare Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Subtle Healthcare · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Serve Homecare · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Sufficient Social Care · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Accrete Care Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Rowan Tree · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
New Hope Community Healthcare · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Three Little Angels · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Be Humankind Care · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
London Paramount Care Community Support · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Options Health Care Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Knightingles Healthcare · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Greenleaves Homecare Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Connections Healthcare · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Priority Plus Care · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Domcare24 · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Care By Us – Silkin Court · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Heriitage Care · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
GJU Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Blossom Healthcare Solutions · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Care Fully · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Sandton Healthcare · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Look Ahead Domiciliary Care · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Avenues Healthcare · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Partners in Support · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Outstanding
Lily Healthcare & Supported Living · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Devoted Supported Living - Main Office · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Hope Care Support · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Alina Homecare North Herts · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Rainbow Care Solutions · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Lead Care Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Destiny Support Care · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
FEGO CARE SOLUTIONS · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Vincent Place · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Eagles Wings24 Care · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Bridgecare Solutions · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
and Bedfordshire Domiciliary Care Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Swanton Community Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Pro Life Care · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Living Well Homecare · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Domiciliary Care Agency · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
SureCare North Herts · Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Remiz Care & Recruitment Services · Stevenage, Hertfordshire

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 Hertfordshire agencies publish a rate.	£26.00 to £34.30 an hour
What Hertfordshire pays Average hourly rate, October 2026.	£31.82 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

Hope Care Support Limited, 19 May 2026, Requires improvement
Destiny Support Care, 15 April 2026, Good
Look Ahead Domiciliary Care (Hertfordshire), 15 June 2025, Not yet rated

Longest since a report

Lead Care Services Limited, 24 April 2018, Good
Care Fully Limited, 28 November 2018, Good
Hertfordshire Domiciliary Care Agency, 1 December 2018, Good

Frequently asked questions about home care in Stevenage

How many home care agencies are there in Stevenage?

Stevenage has 49 CQC registered home care agencies: 1 Outstanding, 20 Good, 5 Requires improvement, 23 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 Stevenage?

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 Hertfordshire 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 Stevenage were inspected most recently?

Hope Care Support Limited (19 May 2026), Destiny Support Care (15 April 2026) and Look Ahead Domiciliary Care (Hertfordshire) (15 June 2025) have the most recent CQC reports.

Local care news in Hertfordshire

CQC register adds a new care home in North Hertfordshire: Monread Lodge (5 November 2026)

More local care news for Hertfordshire