Care staff for services in Croydon

Who regulates care in Croydon

Croydon care services are registered with the Care Quality Commission, and children’s homes with Ofsted. For every worker we put forward in Croydon, we check identity and right to work, an enhanced DBS check with the adults’ or children’s barred list, references from recent care work and training records.

Nurses are checked on the NMC register before their first shift. Croydon University Hospital, run by Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, is home to the borough’s only emergency department.

Care regulator

Care Quality Commission (CQC) for adult social care. Ofsted registers and inspects children’s homes.

Criminal record checks

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Care roles are usually checked at enhanced level, with the adults’ or children’s barred list where the work is regulated activity.

Workforce register

No national register for care workers. Nurses are on the NMC register, and social workers must be registered with Social Work England.

Council

• Croydon Council (London Borough of Croydon)

NHS integrated care board

• NHS South West London Integrated Care Board
• Croydon Health Services NHS Trust

Care services in Croydon

In its assessment of Croydon Council, published in October 2025, the CQC counted 124 registered care homes in the borough, 92 residential and 32 nursing, and 138 registered home care providers.

The same report gave an adult social care vacancy rate of 12.14 per cent, based on Skills for Care estimates, amounting to approximately 1,600 posts, mainly in personal care roles, along with a shortage of nursing staff.

Home care is hardest to arrange in the south of the borough, where there is less public transport, and the council issues parking permits to carers. Further north, Tramlink routes run through central Croydon from Wimbledon, Beckenham, Elmers End and New Addington, which helps workers without a car reach services near the tram.

NHS South West London Integrated Care Board plans NHS services for Croydon. Since February 2026 it has shared a chair and chief executive with NHS South East London, while remaining a separate organisation.

Croydon has developed a 10-year workforce recruitment and retention plan with the six South West London boroughs. The CQC’s report noted that 77 per cent of Croydon’s care workforce was female and 30 per cent of care workers were aged over 55, so almost 3,900 people would reach retirement age in the next 10 years. Half of the borough’s approximately 3,000 care home beds were nursing beds, but more affordable nursing placements were needed.

Settings and roles we staff in Croydon

Every setting and role below is open to Croydon services, and our office is in the borough.

Areas near Croydon

• Sutton
• London
• Surrey
• Kent
• All areas we cover