Business toolkits
Care Home Business Toolkit
Everyday admin, organised. Build a weekly staff rota, keep training renewal dates in one list, and see which documents are coming up for renewal. Built for UK care home operators who are running the home, not running spreadsheets.
- Records saved to your account, private to you
- Print or save any list as a PDF
- Email reminders before renewal dates
- Free to use, no account needed
- One free Excel or Word download a month, then £1.49 a file or £4.99 a month for unlimited
Free to use. No account needed. Create a free account when you want to save your records, and to get your free monthly download.
Create a free accountTools in this toolkit
Staff Shift Rota Builder
Plan staff and shifts across the week, then print or save a clean rota.
Open toolStaff Training Tracker
Record training completed by each staff member and keep renewal dates in view.
Open toolDocument Expiry Tracker
Keep insurance, contracts and certificates in one list with renewal dates.
Open toolStaff Onboarding Checklist
Track the admin items each new starter needs, with target dates and progress.
Open toolHoliday & Leave Planner
Log holiday and leave requests by staff member with dates and approval status.
Open toolStaff Timesheet
Log hours worked by staff member and date, then print for payroll.
Open toolEquipment Maintenance Log
Record maintenance carried out on equipment and keep next due dates in view.
Open toolAsset Register
Keep a single register of your equipment and assets with location and value.
Open toolCleaning Schedule Manager
Set out which areas get cleaned, how often, and who is doing it.
Open toolRoom Inspection Checklist
Build a room by room checklist and record the outcome of each walk round.
Open toolPolicy Acknowledgement Tracker
Record which staff have confirmed they have read each policy and which version.
Open toolMeeting Minutes Generator
Write up meeting notes, attendees and actions, then print a tidy record.
Open toolAction Plan Tracker
Keep a running list of actions with an owner, a priority and a due date.
Open toolVisitor Log
Keep a simple signing in and out record of visitors to the home.
Open toolSimple Incident Log
A plain administrative log of what happened, when, and what was done about it.
Open toolFree care and staff templates
Find care contracts too
Councils, NHS trusts and local authorities tender care and support work all year round, from domiciliary care to supported living. The rotas, training records and document dates you keep here are the sort of detail buyers ask you to evidence. See what is live now.
How to start a care company
Two very different businesses hide behind the word care, and the gap between them is enormous. This is a general overview to help you work out which one you are looking at. It is not regulatory or compliance guidance, and the CQC's own website is the place to go for what registration actually requires.
Decide which business you are starting
Domiciliary care means visiting people in their own homes. A residential care home means a building you own or lease, with residents living in it. The costs, the timescales and the risk are not remotely comparable.
Register the business itself
Sole trader or limited company first, plus a business bank account. Most people setting up care services go limited, partly because of how contracts and liability tend to work.
Read the CQC guidance before anything else
Registration with the Care Quality Commission is mandatory for regulated care activity in England. There is no application fee for domiciliary care, but you need a registered manager in place, usually someone holding a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care or with equivalent experience. Check the detail on the CQC website rather than relying on any third party summary, including this one.
Line up the insurance
Employers' liability with minimum £5m cover, public liability commonly £5m to £10m, and professional indemnity. Combined, a small domiciliary provider is often looking at roughly £1,000 to £2,500 a year.
Register with the ICO
You will be handling a lot of sensitive personal data, so data protection registration with the Information Commissioner's Office applies. It costs about £40 to £60 a year.
For a care home, plan the building first
Buying or leasing suitable premises, refurbishing to the standards inspectors expect, a commercial kitchen, fire safety systems, and a staff team paid from day one, before a single resident moves in.
What it actually costs to start
Domiciliary care typically needs somewhere between £6,000 and £25,000 depending on the scale you are aiming for. A residential care home is a different world: £150,000 to well over £1,000,000, most of it in property and fit out.
Once you are running, the care toolkit handles the administrative record keeping around the service: staff rotas and timesheets, a training tracker, document and insurance expiry dates, visitor logs, maintenance and cleaning schedules. It keeps the office paperwork tidy. It does not assess, certify or advise on compliance, and it is not a substitute for the guidance the CQC publishes.
Which package makes sense at this stage
If you are still setting the care business up, start on the free Starter plan. It costs nothing, it lets you search and read live contract notices, and it is enough to work out whether public sector work is realistic for you yet.
The admin toolkit itself is free to use and needs no account, so you can build the rotas, checklists and renewal lists from day one. Create a free account if you want those records saved and waiting for you next time, which also gives you one free Excel or Word download each month across all the toolkits.
Move up to Pro at £89 a month when you are genuinely ready to bid, meaning insurance in place, references you can name and the capacity to take the work on. Pro is where the matching, scoring and drafting live. Business is built for teams running several bids at once, so most people setting up do not need it, and there is no reason to pay for it early. Full detail is on the pricing page.
No work is guaranteed
Using this toolkit, or finding tenders through 123 Tenders, does not mean you will get work. Whether you win a tender depends on your bid, on who else is bidding and on plenty of things none of us control. We help you find opportunities and prepare for them properly. We do not promise you will win them, and we do not promise work will follow once you are set up.
Not sure this is the right sector for you?
Answer five questions about your budget, vehicle, qualifications, insurance and area, and the free Sector Finder will tell you which public sector work is realistic for you, with live notices to match. It is guidance based on your answers, not a promise of work.
These tools are provided for general business administration, organisation and record-keeping purposes. They do not constitute legal, medical, clinical, safeguarding, health and safety or regulatory advice and do not guarantee compliance with any applicable requirement. Businesses remain responsible for ensuring their own policies, procedures and records are appropriate for their circumstances.