Staff handbook for a care business

A care provider's handbook is read by the inspector as well as the staff, and it has to show that the policies the regulations require exist, are specific to the service and are applied: safeguarding, whistleblowing, the duty of candour, medication, moving and handling, infection control, lone working and the recruitment checks that regulation 19 demands. It also has to carry the ordinary employment policies in a form care staff on variable hours will follow. I draft that handbook for the provider for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Care homes, domiciliary care agencies, supported living and other services in England registered with the Care Quality Commission, employing care workers, senior carers and support staff.

What matters in a care handbook

The policies the regulator expects to see

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 require a registered provider to have systems and processes for safeguarding, safe care and treatment, good governance, staffing and fit and proper persons, and the inspector will look for the policies that implement them: the handbook should contain or refer to each, be specific to the service rather than generic, be dated and version-controlled, and be acknowledged by staff, because a policy the inspector finds that staff have never seen is a finding against the provider.

Safeguarding, whistleblowing and the duty of candour

The handbook should contain the safeguarding policy (recognising and reporting abuse and neglect, the local authority's procedures, the designated lead, the Care Act 2014 framework), the whistleblowing policy under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 with an independent route and the regulator as a prescribed person, the duty of candour under regulation 20 of the 2014 Regulations (being open with people when things go wrong), and the staff's own obligations to report concerns about colleagues; the provider's safeguarding record is the thing the inspector tests first, and the handbook is where staff learn what they must do.

Medication, moving and handling and the clinical procedures

The handbook should refer to the medication policy (administration, recording, errors, controlled drugs), the moving and handling procedures under the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 with the equipment and training required, infection prevention and control, the use of personal protective equipment, the care planning and record keeping staff must follow, consent and mental capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and the incident reporting procedures including notifications to the regulator; a breach of the clinical procedures is a disciplinary matter and the handbook should say so.

Lone working, travel and the working time rules

The handbook should set the lone working policy for staff in clients' homes (check-ins, risk assessments, the right to withdraw, the response to aggression), the travel policy (the licence and insurance checks for staff using their own cars, mileage, travel time paid at the minimum wage at least as working time under the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015), the rota and sleep-in arrangements, rest breaks and compensatory rest under the Working Time Regulations 1998, and the position on guaranteed hours and shift notice as the Employment Rights Act 2025 provisions come in on the timetable the regulations set; domiciliary care runs on rotas and cars, and the policies have to work in a car between visits.

Recruitment checks, training and fitness to practise

The handbook should state the checks regulation 19 of the 2014 Regulations requires (an enhanced disclosure with barred list check under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 regime, references, employment history, right to work under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, health declarations), the induction and the Care Certificate, mandatory training and its refresh cycle, the registration and revalidation requirements for nurses, the duty to report changes affecting suitability, and the provider's policy on staff who are unfit to work; the inspector samples staff files against the policy, and the two should match.

The core policies in a form the inspector will read

The handbook should contain the core policies (disciplinary and grievance under the Acas Code, equal opportunities and the duty to prevent sexual harassment under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 including by service users and families, sickness absence with the infection control dimension, holiday, flexible working under section 80F of the Employment Rights Act 1996, data protection for client records under the UK GDPR and the duty of confidence, social media and photographs, gifts and relationships with service users, health and safety under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974), written for care staff and for the inspector, non-contractual and acknowledged on issue with records kept.

What it costs

Staff handbook and core policies, £995. Five working days.

Employment contract, £595. One template you can reuse for a grade of staff. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the employment contracts and handbooks page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A bespoke contract drafted for how you employ people
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Confidentiality and intellectual property provisions that put ownership where it belongs
• The statutory particulars, so the document does the job section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires it to do
• Flexibility clauses where you genuinely need them, drafted to survive challenge
• Core policies: disciplinary, grievance, sickness absence, equal opportunities, data protection and, increasingly, AI use
• One round of amendments

What is not included

• Acting for employees
• Employment tribunal representation
• Payroll, pensions auto-enrolment and tax
• Immigration and sponsor licence work
• Day to day HR handling, disciplinaries, grievances and redundancy processes

Questions I am often asked

Does the inspector read the staff handbook?

The inspector looks for the policies the regulations require and tests whether staff know them. The handbook is where most of them live, and it should be specific to the service, dated and acknowledged.

Do we have to pay care workers for travel between visits?

Travel between visits is paid working time, at the minimum wage at least. The travel policy says so and sets the mileage and the checks for staff using their own cars.

What is the duty of candour and does it belong in the handbook?

The provider's duty to be open with people when things go wrong, under the 2014 Regulations. The handbook tells staff what the duty requires of them, alongside incident reporting and safeguarding.

Related guidance and services

• Employment contracts and handbooks, £995, the service this page describes
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Employment contract for a care worker

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.