What to Ask a Home Care Agency Before You Sign

Do the First Round on the Phone, in Thirty Minutes

You do not need a meeting to eliminate half your shortlist. Ring three agencies, work down the same list, and write the answers in the same order on three sheets. Say at the start that you have about ten questions and ask whether now is a good time — an agency that cannot find ten minutes for a prospective client is telling you something about its capacity.

Before you call, write your own list of the tasks you actually want done. Not "help around the house" — the specific things: getting up and dressed by half past eight, a hot meal at midday, the shopping on Fridays, someone in the house between four and seven. That list is what the whole conversation is about, and without it you will be sold a package rather than buying a service.

Have the days and hours written down too, including the ones you cannot cover yourself. The answer to "what time windows can you actually staff" is where most arrangements succeed or fail.

• Write the task list first: specific jobs, not general help
• Write the days and hours you need covered, including nights and weekends
• Ask the same questions of every agency, in the same order
• Note who you spoke to, their role, and the date
• Ask for the rate card and a blank contract by email while you are still on the call

Questions About the Agency Itself

Start with the structure, because it determines who is responsible when something goes wrong. The difference between an agency that employs its caregivers and one that introduces self-employed contractors is not a detail — it changes who carries insurance, who covers a sick day, and who you complain to.

Ask for the licence number and write it down. You can check it later; the point of asking is partly to see how readily it is given.

Supervision is the question that separates agencies in practice. Ask who visits the house to check the work, how often, and whether you get a copy of what they write. An agency that sends a supervisor quarterly and one that has never sent anyone are describing very different services at similar prices.

• Are you licensed in this state, and what is the licence number?
• How long have you operated under this name and this ownership?
• Are your caregivers your employees, or contractors we would be engaging?
• Who carries the liability insurance and the workers' compensation — you or us?
• What background checks do you run, and how recently for the person you would send?
• Who supervises the caregiver, and how often do they come to the house?
• What is your complaints process, and who handles it?

Questions About the People Who Come to the House

Continuity is what your parent will actually experience. Six different faces in a month is a different service from two, whatever the brochure says, and it is the single question most worth pressing on.

Ask for the task boundaries in writing. Every agency has a list of things its staff will not do, and finding out on the day that this does not include cutting toenails or changing a bed is avoidable. Ask for that list as a document.

Driving matters more than people expect. If getting to appointments is part of why you are hiring, ask directly whether the caregiver drives, whose car, and whether the insurance covers carrying your parent.

Finally, ask what gets written down after each visit and whether the family can read it. That record is how you know what happened on the days you were not there.

• How many different people would come in a typical month?
• Can we meet the person before the first shift, and is there a trial period?
• What training does that person have for the tasks on our list?
• What tasks will they not do — may I have that in writing?
• Do they drive, whose car is it, and is it insured for carrying my parent?
• Do they cook, shop and do laundry, or personal care only?
• What do they record after each visit, and can the family read it?
• If my parent does not get on with them, what is the process to change?

Questions About Scheduling and Cover

This is where arrangements break. The agency that promised weekday mornings turns out to mean somewhere between eight and eleven, and your parent is sitting in a chair waiting for three hours.

Ask for the arrival window, not the arrival time, and ask how firm it is. Then ask the sick-day question: when the regular caregiver cannot come, does someone else come, how quickly, and who tells you.

Minimum visit lengths and minimum weekly hours are worth knowing before you build a rota around forty-five minute calls that the agency does not offer. And ask the six-in-the-morning question plainly — who do we call when nobody has arrived. Every family needs that number eventually, and nobody has it when they need it.

• What is the minimum visit length and the minimum hours per week?
• What time windows can you actually staff, and how firm are arrival times?
• When the regular caregiver is sick, do you send someone, and how quickly?
• How much notice must we give to cancel a visit without being charged?
• How much notice do you need from us to add hours in a difficult week?
• Do you cover weekends, nights and holidays, and at what rate?
• Who do we call at 6am when nobody has arrived?

Questions About Money and the Contract

Get the rate card in writing, including the rates that are not the headline one. Evenings, weekends, public holidays and short visits are often priced differently, and a rota that looks affordable on weekday rates can be a third more expensive in practice.

Ask what the invoice shows. An invoice with dates, times and hours lets you check what happened. An invoice with a single monthly figure does not.

Ask for a blank contract to read at home, away from anyone's enthusiasm. Read the notice period and the early-termination clause first, because those are the two you will care about if this does not work out. If the agency will not send a blank contract before you commit, that is your answer.

• What is the hourly rate, and what are the rates for nights, weekends and holidays?
• Is there a mileage, travel or registration charge?
• How and when are we invoiced, and what does the invoice show?
• Do you bill any insurance or benefit directly, and what do you need from us?
• What is the notice period to end the arrangement?
• Is there a penalty for ending early?
• May I have a blank copy of the contract to read at home?
• May I have the names of two families you currently work with?

Put Two Agencies Side by Side on One Page

Rule a sheet into three columns: the question, agency A, agency B. Work down it while the calls are fresh. The comparison is the point — individually every agency sounds reasonable, and it is only in the second column that the differences become visible.

Highlight four rows before you decide: the number of different caregivers in a month, what happens on a sick day, the true hourly cost including evenings, and the notice period. Those four predict most of what the next year will feel like.

When you call the two reference families, keep it to three questions: how many different people come, what happens when someone is off, and what would you change. Ask them to answer in their own words rather than yes or no.

File the completed sheet, the rate card and the blank contract together behind one tab. When a sibling asks in three months why you chose this agency, the answer is a page, not an argument.

• Three columns: question, agency A, agency B
• Highlight continuity, sick-day cover, true hourly cost, notice period
• Call two reference families and ask three questions each
• File the comparison sheet, the rate card and the blank contract together

Questions