Registering a Homecare Agency – the Business Plan and Statement of Purpose

This blog is the fourth in a six-part miniseries in which we have been exploring what is needed to make a successful application for Care quality Commission (CQC) registration as a domiciliary, home care, provider as well as how Bettal can help.

In the previous blog in this miniseries, https://bettal.co.uk/domiciliary-care-service-user-bands,we took a look at the regulated activities, what you will be doing, and how these are defined by the CQC. We saw that the most common regulated activity used by domiciliary care providers is that of personal care.

We considered the age group bands the CQC uses to define service user bands and how the choice of service user age bands needs to reflect your experience and will determine the policies you need. We consider what are sometimes called specialisms, such as dementia and physical disability, and how you should determine which of these to tick, if any, in your application. We highlighted how important it is to undertake a pre-application if you are planning to add people living with learning difficulties or autistic spectrum disorder to your CQC registration.

In this blog we will be exploring what you need to include in your statement of purpose and business plan when making your application to the CQC.

What is a statement of purpose?

The statement of purpose (SOP) is a document which identifies what services you intend to provide, the people you intend to provide the services to, the aims and objectives of the business and the name of the person who will be the registered manager for the business. While statements of purpose are not unique to CQC registration, the ones written for the CQC application are a legal requirement and need to contain legally defined content.

The Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/3112/contents, Regulation 12, identifies how all providers must:

· Have a statement of purpose.

· Keep the statement up to date

· Inform the CQC of any changes within 28 days.

Failure to observe this regulation can lead to prosecution.

Content of the Statement of Purpose

The CQC are clear as to what to include in the SOP for CQC Registration, https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-regulation/providers/registration/statement-purpose:

About your business

· Name of the business

· Type of business (legal status) – for example sole trader, partnership, or limited company (organisation)

· Your business address, telephone number and email address (including address for serving notices or other documents)

· Names of any partners in your business (if the business is a partnership).

Your Aims and Objectives

These are your aims and objectives in providing the activities the CQC regulate at the locations you operate, where an:

· Aim is a statement about what you hope to achieve in the business.

· Objective is a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic And Timely (SMART) target which you need to achieve in order to reach your aim.

For example:

Aim: To provide person-centred care and achieve positive outcomes for each Service User.

Objective: Service Users will report that care is person-centred and they are able to achieve some of their planned outcomes.

Places where you provide services

The CQC call the places where you provide, or co-ordinate the provision of care from, locations. For each of your locations, your SOP has to show:

· The address as well as other contact details.

· A description of the location.

· The type of service you provide at or from the location.

· The different needs of people who use your service (the service user bands).

· The activities the CQC regulate that you provide at or from the location, e.g. personal care.

· The details of the registered manager who manages those activities at the location.

Perhaps confusingly, the location for domiciliary care is the office from which care is coordinated. This may or may not be the same address as the company headquarters, what is termed the registered office, which is also the address at which the company is registered at companies house, https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house. It is important that you understand this distinction as putting the wrong addresses in the CQC registration application form will lead to it being returned at the screening phase of the registration process.

The location should be accessible to people, i.e. have transport links and parking nearby, and people should be able to access the office if they are having a consultation. It is important that the location is secure and that information about clients and staff can be stored securely.

Your Registered Managers

A service may have more than one Registered Manager (RM). A person only becomes an RM once their application is accepted by the CQC, prior to that they are essentially a service manager. For the purposes of an application the individual(s) who you intend becoming the RM(s) are treated as the RM(s) in the SOP.

For each Registered Manager the SOP must include:

· Their full name (including middle names as per the disbarring service (DBS) certificate) and contact details – including phone number and a professional email address.

· The address we should use to serve notices and other documents to them, this does not have to be the location, it could be the registered office.

· The location(s) they manage and the percentage of time they spend at each – you can manage more than one location so long as you can show how you will manage your time.

· The activities we regulate that they manage – some services have different managers for different activities.

· Details of any job share arrangements.

There is a template for the SOP on the CQC website: https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-regulation/providers/registration/statement-purpose.

TOP TIP: Only provide what is required in the SOP, any further information will not be assessed during the CQC registration process.

What is required in the Business Plan?

Oddly, the CQC registration process does not require a business plan at the screening stage and there is no advice or guidance apparent on their website about what a business plan should contain. A business plan is required however once you get to the inspector stage of the CQC registration process and so you need to give it some thought.

We would also advice anyone planning to set up a domiciliary care agency to start by undertaking a business plan. There are many templates around for this including one which Bettal can provide to new CQC registration customers. We advise that the business plan is not too long or complicated as it has no need to be and any growth forecasts will be reliant on getting contracts with local authorities.

A business plan should contain:

· A title page including the name and registered office address of the business. It should include the name of the director(s) and the companies house registration number.

· The first internal page should be an executive summary of what the rest of the plan says and should be no more than a page.

· There should be a general description of the business including what registered activities you intend undertaking and the service user age bands and any specialities.

· A statement of values and the mission of the business helps set the scene as does a record of the aims and objectives of the service.

· There should be a page which describes the set up of the business, the organisational structure (sometimes called an organogram), how the service will seek clients, e.g. private and local authority and any unique selling points for the business, e.g. the skills of the leadership team.

· There should be a page or more describing the various roles in the business, their titles, what they do and how many people there will be in these roles, e.g. three directors and their responsibilities, one nominated individual and their responsibilities etc.

· It is useful to have a narrative page which describes the attributes of the designated RM, including their qualifications and experience.

· A review of the demand for the service. This can be done by considering the population profile in the locality as well as by having talks with local commissioners.

· A quick review of the local competition. This might be a list of some local domiciliary care agencies, what they do and their CQC rating.

· A statement or SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis about what the new provider will offer which is different to that already available locally

· A two-year financial forecast – this is best undertaken with an accountant or other financial expert and should include the costs of the business, including wages, against a predicted income which will mean the number of clients and what they will pay per hour of care.

TOP TIP: It is a good idea to get help with writing a business plan.

TOP TIP: Maake sure the content of the business plan mirrors other documents, e.g. the aims and objectives should be the same as those in the SOP.

Summary

In this blog we have identified that a Statement of Purpose is a legal requirement for all CQC registered service providers. We have also identified what information prospective domiciliary care providers need to include in their application and why. We have identified what needs to be in a business plan at the second stage of the application process, but that it is wise to have the plan prepared before making the application itself.

We have identified that it is important to understand some of the terminology the CQC use with regard to registrations as well as to ensure that the content of the various elements of the CQC registration all contain the same information.

In subsequent blogs in this mini-series about CQC registration we will explore what policies you will need to supply when registering a domiciliary care service and how to prepare them for registration as well as how to prepare for the RM and Nominated Individual interviews.

In these later blogs we will also explore some top tips for successful registration and examine how Bettal can help. Bettal has a well tried and tested suite of policies and procedures which are designed to support potential providers with the registration process.

If you would like to know more, browse our website, https://www.bettal.co.uk, or get in touch:

Email: info@bettal.co.uk

Telephone: 01697741411

Peter Ellis MA MSc BSc(Hons) RN

Consultant

Bettal Quality Consultancy