- Homecare service
Because We Care Northampton
Assessment report published 25 March 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Assessment date: 06 to 30 January 2026
Because We Care Northampton is a domiciliary care agency providing support to people in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. At the time of inspection, 6 people were receiving personal care support.
This inspection was carried out to check whether the provider had made the required significant improvements identified at the last inspection.
Improvements were not found at this assessment, and the provider remained in breach of legal regulations relating to safe care and treatment, safeguarding, staff recruitment, medicines management, consent and governance.
People and their relatives spoke positively about the kindness and attentiveness of the provider and staff. However, there continued to be widespread and significant shortfalls in leadership, governance, and the delivery of safe, effective care.
People continued to experience avoidable risks due to ineffective incident oversight, poor risk management, and unsafe medicines practices, including missed doses and inconsistent recording. Safeguarding processes were not robust, and leaders lacked the required knowledge to identify or act on concerns.
Care plans lacked detail, assessments were not routinely updated, and bestpractice guidance was not embedded. Decisions were made without appropriate professional oversight, and there continued to be no evidence of mental capacity assessments or lawful best interest processes.
Leadership remained ineffective and governance arrangements were not embedded. Systems to monitor quality, manage risks, or drive improvement were either absent or not followed. Engagement with staff, external partners, and the wider community was limited, and learning from incidents or previous inspections was not demonstrated.
The service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.
In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.
People's experience of this service
People and their relatives continued to share positive views about the care they received, describing staff as kind and caring. People received continuity of care from a small, consistent team, and staff understood their needs well. People told us staff understood their individual needs and preferences, and relatives felt reassured by the regular communication from care workers when people’s health needs changed. Comments included, “They (staff) promote my independence by giving me the time I need to do a task and not rush to do it for me so they can leave early” and “We have a good relationship with [the provider], [the provider] communicates well if there's an issue.”
Despite this, gaps in care planning and record keeping meant the provider could not always demonstrate that people’s needs were consistently responded to or that care was always delivered in line with people’s wishes. Daily records were not always completed, which limited the provider’s ability to evidence how people’s concerns, discomfort or changes in wellbeing were monitored and addressed.
People and relatives gave mixed feedback about communication from the provider, including whether actions were taken when concerns were raised. While formal complaints were minimal, not all people felt fully informed or engaged with. Information provided to people was not always accurate or up to date, and the provider had not ensured people’s understanding of information was formally assessed through mental capacity processes.
People told us they were able to access support when needed, including out of hours, and valued the provider’s flexibility in responding to lastminute staffing issues to ensure care was not missed. No concerns were raised about inequitable experiences or outcomes.