How much does children's care cost in the Dorset council area?

Agencies in the Dorset council area quote by the hour after an assessment, so there is no single price. The Homecare Association calculates that a provider needs to charge at least £34.42 an hour in 2026-27 to pay careworkers the statutory minimum for all their working time and run a compliant business. Two half-hour visits a day at that rate is roughly £481.88 a week. Dorset paid £26.39 an hour for the care it commissioned in 2023-24.

Will the council pay for children's care in the Dorset council area?

Dorset can arrange and fund care after a needs assessment, which is free and which anyone can request. What you contribute depends on a separate financial assessment. It paid providers an average of £26.39 an hour in 2023-24, the 9th highest of 150 councils in England. The Homecare Association's minimum sustainable price is £34.42 for 2026-27. Those are different years, so treat the pair as context rather than a like-for-like gap. What a council pays shapes which agencies will take council-funded work at all.

Which children's care services in the Dorset council area are rated best?

9 of the 17 services in the Dorset council area carry a published CQC rating and 9 of those, 100%, are rated Good or Outstanding. 1 is rated Outstanding, the top grade: iDirect - West Dorset. A rating describes the service on the day it was inspected, so check the report date as well as the word.

Is the Dorset council area well served for children's care?

17 of the 92 home care services in the Dorset council area are registered to support this, 18%, against 20% across England. That is about average. Registration is permission rather than specialisation, so it sets the size of the list rather than its quality.

How do I choose a children's care agency in the Dorset council area?

Start with what the regulator publishes, then ask what it cannot tell you: who would actually visit, whether it is the same carer each time, what happens when that person is ill, and how long a call really lasts. 8 of the 17 services in the Dorset council area carry no published verdict at all, so for those the questions are the only evidence you have. Every service here comes from the public register, and contacting one costs nothing: we take no fee and no commission.

Children's care in Dorset council area

There are 17 children's care services in the Dorset council area registered with the Care Quality Commission. 9 carry a published CQC rating, and 9 of those are rated Good or Outstanding. The other 8 are unrated, which usually means they have not been inspected since registering rather than that anything is wrong. Privately arranged care is quoted by the hour, and the Homecare Association puts the minimum a provider must charge in 2026-27 at £34.42, or about £481.88 a week for two half-hour visits a day. The council paid providers £26.39 an hour in 2023-24, the 9th highest of 150 councils in England and 25% above the £21.19 median. That is 17 of the 92 home care services across the Dorset local authority. Your council decides what care you are entitled to and what it pays towards, so this is the area that matters for funding.

Agincare UK Bridport

Bridport, Dorset

GoodCQC, Sept 2018

Caring for children (0 - 18yrs)
Sensory impairments
Caring for adults under 65 yrs
+4 more

Hourly rate: not published
Pays carers for travel: not published
Shortest visit: not published

Children's care in the Dorset council area

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Children's care in Dorset: questions people ask