Quick answer: Domiciliary care (also called home care or care at home) is personal and practical support delivered to someone in their own home rather than in a care home. A domiciliary carer visits clients on a round, typically for 30 to 60 minutes at a time, helping with washing, dressing, medication, meals and companionship. In England, domiciliary care agencies are regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and carers are expected to complete the Care Certificate in their first 12 weeks, then work towards the Level 2 Diploma in Adult Care and the Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care. Branch and registered managers hold the Level 5 Diploma in Leading and Managing an Adult Care Service.
What does domiciliary care mean?
"Domiciliary" comes from the Latin domicilium, a home. In UK social care the term covers any regulated personal care provided where the person lives: their own house or flat, sheltered housing or extra-care housing. The CQC registers it as the regulated activity "personal care". Domiciliary care is one of the largest parts of the adult social care workforce in England.
Domiciliary care is different from:
- Residential care: the person moves into a care home with 24-hour staff.
- Live-in care: a carer lives in the client's home, usually on a rota of several days or weeks.
- Supported living: the person has their own tenancy and receives scheduled or on-site support, common for adults with learning disabilities.
- Reablement: short, intensive home care (usually up to six weeks) after a hospital stay, arranged by the local authority or NHS.
What do domiciliary carers do?
A typical domiciliary care round covers four to eight clients a day across morning, lunch, tea and evening calls. Tasks include:
| Area | Examples |
|---|---|
| Personal care | Washing, bathing, dressing, continence care, oral care |
| Medication | Prompting, assisting or administering from a blister pack under the agency's medication policy |
| Nutrition | Preparing meals and drinks, supporting people to eat, recording intake |
| Mobility | Hoists, stand aids, repositioning, following a moving and handling plan |
| Domestic | Light housework, laundry, shopping where it is in the care plan |
| Wellbeing | Companionship, social contact, prompting activities, noticing changes in health |
| Records | Electronic care notes per visit, reporting concerns to the office and family |
Domiciliary carers work alone far more than care-home staff, which is why safeguarding, lone-worker safety, driving and time management feature so heavily in job adverts.
Domiciliary care vs residential care
| Column 1 | Domiciliary (home) care | Residential care |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Client's own home | Care home |
| Shift pattern | Split rounds, early starts and late finishes, often 7am to 2pm and 4pm to 10pm | Long days or nights, usually 12 hours |
| Travel | Own car usually required; mileage paid between calls, travel time not always | None |
| Working alone | Most of the day | Team on shift |
| Typical pay 2026 | From £12.71 an hour (aged 21+), mileage often paid on top | From £12.71 an hour (aged 21+) |
| Regulator | CQC (personal care) | CQC (accommodation with personal care) |
| Progression | Senior carer, field care supervisor, care coordinator, branch or registered manager | Senior carer, team leader, deputy, registered manager |
£12.71 is the April 2026 National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over; actual rates are set by each employer and vary by region. See the care worker pay guide 2026 for full tables including senior and manager rates.
What qualifications do you need for domiciliary care?
None to start. Agencies recruit on values and a DBS check, then train. The expected ladder is:
- Care Certificate within 12 weeks: 16 standards, updated in 2025, that set the minimum knowledge and skills for new care workers. It is an induction standard, not a regulated qualification. Our care certificate guide explains it.
- Level 2 Diploma in Adult Care for established care workers.
- Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care for senior carers, field supervisors and medication leads. The Ofqual-regulated TQUK version at Lift College is studied online with portfolio evidence from your own rounds, £69.99 a month with a free 7-day trial.
- Level 5 Diploma in Leading and Managing an Adult Care Service for care coordinators moving into branch or registered manager roles. Every CQC-registered domiciliary branch must have a registered manager, and Skills for Care lists the Level 5 as the qualification for registered managers (see CQC registered manager requirements).
Because every branch needs its own registered manager, domiciliary agencies are steady employers of people with the Level 3 and Level 5.
How much do domiciliary carers earn?
Skills for Care's data gives independent-sector care workers in England a median of £12.60 an hour in December 2025, before the April 2026 National Living Wage rise to £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over. That floor now sets the starting rate for most domiciliary carers, with London rates typically higher. National Careers Service benchmarks put senior care worker roles at around £24,000 to £29,000 a year; coordinator and branch manager pay is set by each agency. The Fair Pay Agreement for adult social care is covered in our Fair Pay Agreement explainer.
Sources
- Care Quality Commission, Regulated activities: personal care; Regulation 7 (registered managers); Regulation 18 (staffing)
- Skills for Care, adult social care workforce and pay data, 2025; Care Certificate standards (updated 2025)
- gov.uk, National Living Wage rates from April 2026
- Ofqual Register, Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care; Level 5 Diploma in Leading and Managing an Adult Care Service
Last reviewed 10 October 2026.