Live-in Care in Hertfordshire: Regulated Care or an Introduction Agency?

Both arrangements are lawful. The question is simply who carries each responsibility. The facts below are checked against CQC and gov.uk guidance, June 2026.

Sources: CQC scope of registration guidance and gov.uk employment guidance, checked June 2026. Individual arrangements vary.

An introduction agency introduces a self-employed live-in carer to your household. You, or the carer, take it from there, and the agency's role usually ends once the introduction is made. A regulated provider, like Starling Homecare, does more. As part of the service we:

• organise, manage and supervise the care
• arrange cover when the carer rests or is unwell
• carry out fit-and-proper recruitment, including criminal record checks
• provide training and supervision, with a registered manager accountable
• hold the insurance a regulated provider is required to carry
• provide a formal complaints process, with CQC oversight behind it

The responsibility sits with us, not with you.

Why cover matters most with live-in care

Live-in care has one feature that makes this choice especially important. A live-in carer lives in the home, but they still need proper rest and breaks each day, time off, and the occasional sick day. So cover is not a rare event. It is part of how live-in care works.

With an introduction agency, arranging that cover is usually your responsibility, and a replacement introduction may carry a further fee. With regulated care, we arrange cover as part of the service, so support does not simply stop. For many families, that is the deciding point.

Starling Homecare is regulated by the Care Quality Commission, the independent body that inspects health and social care across England, from hospitals and GP surgeries to home care providers like us. Being regulated means an outside authority sets the standards we have to meet, and holds us to them. We are health and social care people first, and our registered manager has worked in the sector for more than 25 years, so the way we run care at home is built on real experience rather than guesswork.

Because we are regulated, you are never left without a way to be heard, with a clear, formal complaints process and the CQC's oversight behind it. You can read more about our live-in care service if it would help.

Gov.uk is clear. If you pay a carer directly and they are not genuinely self-employed, you become their employer, even with an agency introduction. That brings real duties: a contract and payslips, at least the National Living Wage, payroll and tax, paid holiday, statutory sick pay, a workplace pension, and employer's liability insurance.

None of this is a reason against an introduction agency. It is simply worth knowing who carries it. With regulated care, the responsibility for managing the carer and the care sits with us, not with you. You pay one fee for the service, you are not the carer's employer, and we hold the insurance a regulated provider must carry. You can check a carer's status with HMRC's employment status tool.

When an introduction agency might suit you

If you are comfortable being an employer, want to choose and manage one carer directly, and have planned for cover and checks, an introduction arrangement can work well and may cost less. The risk is not in the model. It is in taking it on without knowing what it involves. Our guide on private carers and regulated home care goes deeper into all three routes, and you may also find our guide on live-in care or a care home useful.

Regulated live-in care across Hertfordshire

We provide regulated live-in care across Hertfordshire, with one dedicated carer at home and the full support of a registered team behind them. You can read about live-in care in St Albans, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring, Radlett and Shenley, Hitchin and Hertford, and the towns and villages around them. Wherever you are in the county, you can read what live-in care costs, and how to fund it in our care funding guide.

Questions to ask either provider

For an introduction agency: exactly which checks do you verify before introducing a carer? What does your fee cover, and is there a further fee for a replacement? Who arranges cover when the carer rests or is unwell? Where does your role end once the introduction is made? For a regulated provider, including us, ask to see the current CQC rating, and read our questions to ask any home care provider, which sets out all thirteen with what good answers sound like.