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AI in social care: software and automation for care homes

Much of the AI in social care a care home meets sits inside software it already runs: Access Smart Notes turns carers' voice notes into care records for staff to approve, and Sona's assistant Raffy guides managers on staffing decisions. We build the work between those systems, with a named person deciding.

If you are comparing care home software, start with the care record: DHSC counts a provider as fully digitised with a record assured by NHS England and Standards Met on the Data Security and Protection Toolkit. Those records do not normally include rostering. That gap, with fees, agency and staff files, is where we work.

Start a projectWhat we would build

Where the time goes

  • Rotas, agency and the monthly return

    Between the 8th and 14th of each month, every CQC-registered home in England must update the Capacity Tracker: bed vacancies, headcounts of employed and agency or bank staff, and hours paid, overtime, agency hours and absence. Hours may cover the last complete pay period, from payroll.

  • Staff files

    Skills for Care puts 2025/26 staff turnover in England at 21.4% in care homes without nursing and 27.8% in nursing homes. Every new starter needs photo identity, DBS where required, evidence of past conduct in care, qualifications and a full employment history with gaps explained.

  • Fees, funding and top-ups

    Residents may be funded by the council, the NHS or themselves. A third party's top-up to a council-arranged place needs a written agreement with the council covering the amount, payment terms, reviews and fee rises. Back-dated fee changes mean adjusting invoices already sent.

  • Capacity, best interests and DoLS

    Best-interests decisions weigh a resident's wishes and feelings and the views of carers and attorneys. After the Supreme Court's 2 June 2026 ruling on deprivation of liberty, DHSC says many existing DoLS authorisations are likely to fall out of scope, and those should be reviewed.

The systems you already run

  • Digital social care record

    Nourish, Person Centred Software, Access Care Planning and Log my Care are among 23 records on NHS England's assured list. Log my Care offers an Open API; Nourish and PCS connect partners such as CoolCare by API, but we found no public API documentation.

  • Rostering, time and payroll

    Some care records include rostering. Others link to a workforce system such as Sona, which runs care rotas, time and attendance and payroll, integrates with Nourish and offers an API.

  • Care home management

    CoolCare handles enquiries, occupancy and fee invoicing, exports invoices to Xero and Sage, and connects to Person Centred Software and Nourish by API to create resident and staff records automatically.

  • Capacity Tracker

    England's mandatory monthly return, run by NECS for DHSC. Fields are updated one by one or in bulk, so we prepare figures for a manager to check and enter.

What we would build

  • Capacity Tracker figures, ready to check

    Pulls bed states from your care home system and paid hours, overtime, agency and absence from rota and payroll, laid out field by field for the registered manager to check.

  • Agency bills matched to shifts

    Reads agency invoices from email and PDF, matches each line to a booked shift, and flags hours billed but not worked or rates that differ from the agreement. Finance approves every match before payment.

  • Fees and remittances

    Keeps each resident's funding and any top-up agreement with its review date, runs invoices from your care home system's rules, and reconciles council and NHS remittances, flagging short payments for finance to chase.

  • Staff files ready for inspection

    Tracks each Schedule 3 file, visa end dates and Home Office deadlines for sponsored staff, and SSSC or Social Care Wales registration for Scottish and Welsh homes. HR resolves every gap.

  • Capacity and DoLS log

    Records capacity assessments, best-interests decisions and DoLS requests with dates and who was consulted, drafts the CQC notification once an outcome is known, and lists authorisations to revisit after the June 2026 ruling.

Where AI helps

AI for care homes must not decide care: not a care plan, a resident's capacity or best interests, a deprivation of liberty, or who is fit to work. CQC says AI can enhance, but not replace, human decision making; the Oxford-led guidance on generative AI asks providers to equip staff to overrule it.

  • Reading agency invoices and council remittances into lines and matching them, finance approving each match.
  • Drafting a summary of a resident's recent notes for a care plan review, checked and corrected by the senior leading it.
  • Summarising audit checklists across homes into open actions, for the registered manager to sign off.

How we would start

We would start with one home: its monthly Capacity Tracker return and agency bill. We would map where bed states, rota hours, agency shifts and absence are kept, then connect your rota or payroll export. The first version would prepare that month's figures and match agency invoices to booked shifts, for the manager and finance to check.

That first stage, the design and a written scope, typically takes one to three weeks. Like every stage, its price is fixed and agreed before it starts, and you can stop after it. How a project runs

Rules we build around

The software keeps the records these ask for. The duties stay with you.

  • Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, regulation 17

    Each resident's record must be secure, accurate, complete and contemporaneous, covering the care given and decisions taken. CQC inspectors may use digital records on site, read-only where available, so we build in an audit trail and a read-only view.

  • Regulation 19 and Schedule 3 of the same Regulations

    In England, Schedule 3 information must be available for each member of staff. In Scotland, staff must apply to the SSSC within three months and be registered within six; in Wales, care home workers have six months to register with Social Care Wales.

  • Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, regulation 18

    Best interests follow section 4, in England and Wales. Since the Supreme Court's June 2026 judgment, deprivation of liberty is assessed on multiple factors, and a person's expressed wishes and feelings carry significant weight. CQC must be told the outcome of each DoLS request or court application, with its dates.

  • Health and Social Care Act 2012, section 277A

    CQC-regulated adult social care providers in England must make the monthly Capacity Tracker return. Failing to, or giving materially false or misleading information, can bring a penalty under the Adult Social Care Information (Enforcement) Regulations 2022.

  • UK GDPR Article 9 and the Data Security and Protection Toolkit

    Care records hold health data, a special category under Article 9; processing needs a condition such as the provision of social care. The DSPT is an annual self-assessment, required by contract for NHS-funded services, and Standards Met is needed for GP Connect.

Questions

Is there one care home software package that does all of this?

Some come close; where a product covers a job well, buying it is better. Start with an assured care record; we build what sits between systems: returns, reconciliations, cross-home reports and files kept by hand.

Can we use ChatGPT or Copilot with residents' information?

Not with a free or online tool: DHSC says identifiable information should not go into one, as without a supplier contract its safety cannot be guaranteed. CQC's AI principles include a data protection impact assessment; DHSC recommends a person review all AI output.

We sponsor overseas care workers. What should we track?

Since 22 July 2025, a care worker you sponsor must already be in the UK and either hold Skilled Worker permission as one or have worked legally for you as one for at least 3 months; the second route ends on 22 July 2028, a date under review. Most changes in their circumstances go to the Home Office within 10 working days.

What will the Fair Pay Agreement change?

It will set minimum pay and terms for adult social care workers in England, enforceable through their contracts. Negotiations should begin around April 2027 and the first agreement take effect in April 2028, with pay terms enforced by the Fair Work Agency. Pay rates sit in settings, so new rates need no rebuild.

Related

Other industries: Private clinics, HR teams.

Sources

Every rule, date and figure on this page comes from the sources below, checked on 31 October 2026. Rules change: check anything that matters with the source or your adviser.

The 30 sources

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