If you've been reading about the Care Quality Commission lately, you'll have seen it is rebuilding and stepping up its oversight of adult social care. In changes set out in early 2026, the CQC reported carrying out over 50% more inspections in November 2025 than a year earlier, and is prioritising higher-risk and long-unassessed services. That's reassuring news for families relying on regulated care. It also prompts a fair question we're often asked: where does companion care fit into all this — and should it be CQC-inspected too?
What the CQC regulates — and what it doesn't
The CQC regulates specific 'regulated activities' — most relevantly, personal care. That means hands-on help with things like washing, bathing, dressing, toileting, and help with medication, as well as clinical and nursing tasks. Any provider delivering those activities must be registered with the CQC and is subject to its inspections and ratings. The stepped-up inspection regime is about making sure those providers meet the required standard.
Companion care is different in kind. It's about company, conversation and connection — not personal or medical care. Because we don't carry out the regulated activities the CQC oversees, companion care sits outside CQC registration. That isn't a gap or a loophole; it reflects a genuine difference in what the service is. We're not a lighter-touch version of regulated care — we're a different thing altogether.
Knowing which one your relative needs
The practical thing for families is to be clear about what kind of support is needed, because it points to different services:
- If the need is help with washing, dressing, toileting, moving safely, or medication — that's personal care, and it needs a CQC-registered provider
- If there are nursing or clinical needs — that's regulated care too, often with specialist registration
- If the need is company, conversation, getting out and about, and keeping someone's spirits and routine up — that's companion care, and that's what we do
- Many families use both: a registered provider for personal care, and a companion alongside for the human connection that care visits rarely have time for
How we keep standards high without CQC registration
Sitting outside CQC registration doesn't mean sitting outside accountability. We take the trust families place in us seriously, which is why our companions are carefully recruited and checked, matched thoughtfully to the people they visit, and why we keep families informed about how their relative is doing. If, over time, a companion notices that someone's needs are growing — that they're starting to need help with personal care, for instance — we'd say so, and help the family understand that a CQC-registered service is now the right call.
"Companion care isn't regulated by the CQC because it isn't personal or medical care. Knowing that difference helps you choose the right support — sometimes both."
The honest version is the helpful one
As the CQC tightens its oversight of regulated care, we think the most useful thing a companion care provider can do is be completely clear about where the line sits. You should always know exactly what a service does and doesn't cover. If you're weighing up support for an older relative in Derby or Derbyshire and aren't sure which side of that line their needs fall, we're happy to talk it through honestly — even when the answer is that what they need is regulated care we don't provide.
Not sure what support your relative needs?
We'll talk you through the difference between companion care and regulated personal care, honestly, so you can choose well. Serving Derby and Derbyshire.
Published by Kirk Group Editorial
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