HR software for care homes

Staff providing personal care to adults need an enhanced DBS check with a check of the adults' barred list, because personal care is regulated activity. Roles without care contact (kitchen, maintenance and some admin) may only qualify for a lower-level check; eligibility follows the role, not the building. GOV.UK's eligibility tool gives a per-role answer. HollyHR stores the certificate records and your renewal policy evidence; it does not run the checks.

There is no legal renewal interval. GOV.UK is explicit that a DBS check has no official expiry date, and CQC does not set a fixed cycle either. Providers should set a policy based on the role, safeguarding responsibilities and regulator requirements. The DBS Update Service can support status checks with the person's consent. What matters at inspection is that your policy exists, is written down and is followed.

Recruitment files evidencing the Schedule 3 checks (identity with a photograph, DBS where required, conduct evidence from previous care employment, why the person left previous care roles, qualifications, and a full employment history with gaps explained), plus training completion, supervision and appraisal records, and rotas, under Regulations 18 and 19. The practical test is whether you can produce a named person's complete file on request.

Not with new overseas applications: the route closed for care workers and senior care workers on 22 July 2025. You can still extend existing sponsored workers and recruit eligible workers already in the UK under transitional arrangements that run to 22 July 2028. In-country switchers generally need three months with the sponsoring provider first, and sponsors delivering regulated activity in England must be CQC-registered.

Not for the hours the worker is permitted to sleep: the Supreme Court's Mencap judgment established that sleep-in workers count as working for minimum-wage purposes only when awake for the purposes of working. Two traps run the other way. If no suitable sleeping facilities are provided, or the person is really expected to work through the shift, the whole shift counts. Your contracts can always promise more than the statutory floor.

The sponsor guidance's Appendix D set (passport and immigration status copies, up-to-date contact details, attendance and absence records, the job description and qualification evidence) must be kept for the whole sponsorship plus one year after it ends, or until a compliance officer has examined and approved the records. Missing files are a licence risk, which is exactly why they belong in a system rather than a filing cabinet.

No. Rota and time-and-attendance are planned as a future Plus module and care planning is not on our roadmap at all. Care-planning, eMAR and scheduling systems are specialist tools with their own jobs. HollyHR is the employment record underneath: people, patterns, leave, documents and compliance requirement states, exportable to whatever runs your shifts.

Free covers up to 10 active employees with no card required. Standard is a separate plan at £2 per active employee per month before applicable tax, including the first 10; a 30-employee home pays £60 per month. There is no headcount band, and monthly billing remains available. Eligible charities and approved non-profits receive 50% off Standard.