Getting Started
AlwaysReady is a governance and inspection-readiness platform for Adult Social Care providers. It helps Registered Managers and their teams track compliance with the CQC assessment framework for adult social care, record evidence, and see at a glance where they stand ahead of an inspection, all in one place.
AlwaysReady is designed for managers and owners of small to mid-sized Adult Social Care services. It is built for those who need clear oversight, strong governance, and a reliable way to stay inspection-ready every day.
AlwaysReady removes the chaos of scattered folders, spreadsheets, and last-minute inspection panic. It gives you a structured, reliable system for tracking your compliance position against the five Key Questions, uploading evidence, recording governance activity, and knowing exactly what needs attention and when.
Care planning systems capture frontline, person-centred care: daily notes, MAR charts, and risk assessments. AlwaysReady manages governance, oversight, and inspection readiness. It sits above your care planning system, providing the organisational structure inspectors expect to see.
Eleven service types: ARBD Specialist Care Homes, Community Drug and Alcohol Services, Dual-Registered Care Homes, Extra Care Housing, Homecare Agencies, Nursing Homes, Residential Care Homes, Residential Rehabilitation Services, Shared Lives Schemes, Specialist Colleges, and Supported Living.
Yes. You can select any sub-specialisms your service offers. Supported sub-specialisms include: Dementia Care, Learning Disabilities, Mental Health, End-of-Life Care, Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), Physical Disabilities, Bariatric Care, Sensory Impairment, Epilepsy, and Autism.
Your service name, CQC Location ID, service type, and your name and email address. No credit card is required to start your free trial.
You will receive your login details by email. On first login, you will be prompted to change your password and enable two-factor authentication. Your CQC assessment framework is already loaded and ready to use. You can start recording compliance data straight away.
Signing up takes less than a minute. The platform is fully configured. Your main task is to populate it with your data (statuses, review dates, evidence, and HR records) for your whole team.
Yes. Homecare agencies are among the eleven supported service types. Each service type has a tailored checklist aligned with CQC guidance for its setting.
Yes. AlwaysReady works alongside your existing care planning, medication, and rostering software. It does not store any resident or clinical information. It is focused solely on compliance and inspection preparedness.
No. AlwaysReady is not a care-planning or daily-notes system. It focuses on governance, oversight, and inspection-readiness, not on recording care.
Free Trial
Yes. You can sign up for a free 14-day trial with no credit card required. You will have full access to all features from day one.
14 days of full, unrestricted access to the platform.
No. You only need your service name, CQC Location ID, service type, and your name and email address.
Everything: KLOE tracker, readiness dashboard, daily review report, evidence uploads, audit trail, inspection pack, HR module, mock inspection tool, team access, and more. Data entered during the trial is retained if you subscribe.
Under a minute. Fill in a short form, receive your login details by email, and your CQC framework is already loaded and ready to use.
You will be invited to subscribe. There is no automatic charge or obligation to do so.
Your data is stored securely and never shared. It is retained for 30 days and can be downloaded at any time from Account > Organisation. After 30 days, it is permanently deleted.
Contact us at support@alwaysready.uk and we will do our best to help.
Pricing
£75 per month per CQC-registered location. No setup fees, hidden costs, or tiers. Everything is included.
Monthly. There is no annual commitment or long-term contract, and you can cancel at any time.
Billing begins after your 14-day free trial ends, but only if you choose to subscribe. There is no automatic charge at the end of the trial.
Yes, at any time via the Account section. No long-term contracts or cancellation penalties apply. Access continues until the end of the current billing period.
Go to Account > Billing, then click "Manage subscription". This opens the Stripe billing portal, where you can update your payment method and view invoices. AlwaysReady does not store any card or financial data.
If a payment fails, you will be notified by email. Go to Account > Billing to update your payment method. If payment cannot be collected, access to the platform may be suspended until the issue is resolved.
Yes. Registered charities receive a discount on every monthly payment for the duration of their subscription. Provide your charity registration number at sign-up, and the discount is applied automatically once verified.
Each account is for a single CQC-registered service location. If you operate multiple services, each requires its own account. Contact support@alwaysready.uk to discuss multi-site pricing.
Yes. You can download a full export of your compliance records and a ZIP archive of your evidence files at any time from Account > Organisation. Your data is retained for 30 days after cancellation.
How It Works
AlwaysReady is structured around the five CQC key questions and their linked KLOEs. Open a KLOE and set its status: In Progress or Completed. This automatically updates the RAG status. You can also add notes and upload evidence for each KLOE. Your dashboard reflects your current compliance position in real time.
You log in to your dashboard and review your Daily Review Report. It highlights overdue KLOEs in priority order. You open any flagged KLOE, set its status, add notes, and upload evidence. Over time, this builds a live, accurate picture of your compliance health.
RAG stands for Red, Amber, Green: a colour-coded system that shows your inspection readiness at a glance. Green: reviewed and up to date. Amber: in progress or due within 30 days. Red: overdue. The status updates automatically based on the dates and statuses you enter.
Yes. AlwaysReady includes a mock inspection tool that guides you through each KLOE and prompts you to self-assess your evidence as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate. At the end, it produces a report with a self-assessed rating for each of the five key question areas.
Yes. AlwaysReady is a web-based platform optimised to run in any browser: on desktops, laptops, tablets, or smartphones. No app download is required.
Policies, audits, meeting minutes, training records, anonymised incident reviews, action plans, and more. Supported file types: PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), JPG, and PNG. Maximum 10 MB per file.
Yes. AlwaysReady maintains a secure, time-stamped record of every change, including who made it, what changed, and when. This record cannot be altered or deleted.
Yes. The Inspection Pack generates a one-click printable summary. You can also download a full CSV export of all compliance records and a ZIP archive of all uploaded evidence files, both available at any time from Account > Organisation.
No. AlwaysReady helps you organise your evidence, track compliance, and prepare for inspection. CQC inspection outcomes depend on a wide range of factors entirely outside our knowledge or control. AlwaysReady helps you arrive better organised. That is a real advantage, but not a guarantee.
Yes. Click the sun/moon icon in the navigation bar to switch between light and dark modes. The platform also respects your device's system preference by default.
Your Inspection Pack provides a one-click printable summary of your compliance position for each KLOE, with statuses, priorities, and evidence notes already organised and time-stamped. The audit trail provides a robust basis for any factual challenge.
For each KLOE, you can set how often it needs reviewing: monthly, quarterly, annually, or a custom number of days. When you record a review date, the platform automatically calculates the next due date, which drives the RAG status and Daily Review Report.
Team & Access
You can invite your team and assign each person a role: Admin, User, or Viewer. Each role has a different level of access, allowing you to share governance responsibilities while maintaining control over who can view and modify records.
Yes. You can invite as many team members as needed at no extra cost. We recommend that only the Registered Manager holds the Admin role, as it includes full visibility of all HR records.
Admins add team members via the Team section in Account settings. Enter the team member's name, email address, and role, then click Send Invite. They receive login details by email and set their password and MFA on first login.
Yes. Create a Viewer login on the Team page and set the access duration. It expires automatically. Viewers have read-only access to all compliance records, audit trail, HR records, and inspection packs, but cannot make any changes.
Viewers have read-only access to the KLOE tracker, audit trail, readiness trends, daily review report, inspection pack, incident log, feedback log, governance meetings, people's voice, post-inspection reviews and FAC, and HR records. They cannot make any changes, and you can revoke access at any time before expiry.
Yes. Role-based permissions let you control who can view, update, or manage different areas of the platform. Viewer access can also be set to expire on a date you choose.
HR Module
The HR module enables admin users to manage staff records in one place. For each team member, you can record employment details, DBS check dates, supervision and appraisal due dates, training completions, holiday allowances, and absence episodes.
Yes. The HR module includes a training records section for each staff member. You can record completion dates, set renewal frequencies, upload certificates, and view automatically calculated next-due dates.
Yes. The HR module records the date of each staff member's most recent DBS check and calculates the next renewal due date. Renewal status is visible for all staff on the HR overview page.
Yes. The HR module includes an absence records section for each team member. You log each episode individually, recording start and end dates, days absent, a reason category, and any notes.
The Bradford Factor is a formula (S² × D, where S is the number of separate absences and D is the total days absent in a rolling 52-week period) used to identify patterns of frequent short-term sickness. AlwaysReady automatically calculates each team member's score and displays a Low, Medium, or High risk band.
Yes. Each absence record includes fields to indicate whether a return-to-work interview has been completed, the date it took place, and any notes.
Yes. You can upload a certificate against any training record. Certificates are stored securely, virus-scanned, and linked to the relevant training type.
Yes. The HR module records each staff member's last supervision and appraisal dates, the frequency for each, and automatically calculates the next due dates. CQC inspects these records under the Effective and Well-led domains.
Yes. Holiday allowances can be tracked in days or hours. You can change the unit for your whole organisation on the HR settings page.
HR records are visible to Admin users and to Viewer accounts you invite (such as CQC inspectors or board members). Standard User accounts cannot access HR records.
Security & Data
All data is encrypted in transit and at rest. All accounts require two-factor authentication. Every change is recorded in a tamper-proof, time-stamped audit trail. Uploaded files are virus-scanned before storage.
On secure cloud infrastructure within the European Economic Area, meeting the data protection standards required for regulated sectors in the UK.
Yes. AlwaysReady operates in full compliance with UK GDPR. Full details are available in the Privacy Policy and Data Processing Agreement.
No. The data you enter into AlwaysReady is private and visible only to those you grant access. AlwaysReady does not submit any data to CQC, does not connect to any internal CQC system, and does not share your compliance position with any regulator or third party.
Yes, but only in one direction, reading publicly available information. AlwaysReady connects to the CQC Syndication API to retrieve your service's current rating, registered name, and last inspection date. This connection is read-only. Nothing from your account is ever sent to CQC.
Any TOTP-compatible authenticator app, including Google Authenticator, Authy, and Microsoft Authenticator. Browser-based authenticator extensions and the Authy desktop app also work if you do not have a smartphone.
AlwaysReady automatically signs you out when you close the browser tab. This is a deliberate security feature that protects data on shared devices.
You can add another authenticator app at any time via the Account section. If you are locked out, contact support@alwaysready.uk for assistance.
Full Feature List
Everything included in your AlwaysReady subscription: no add-ons, no tiers.
KLOE Compliance Tracking
- CQC KLOE framework, built in: 24 KLOEs across the 5 key questions are pre-loaded. No setup required.
- RAG status, date-driven and automatic: Each KLOE is colour-coded Red, Amber, or Green based on review dates.
Compliance Checklists
- Per-KLOE evidence checklists: Every KLOE has evidence suggestions to get you started.
- Progress bar: A visual progress bar shows how many checklist items are ticked for each KLOE.
- Automatic checklist reset on review: Ticks reset when you log a new review date, ready for the next cycle.
Reporting & Visibility
- Readiness Dashboard: Live inspection readiness across all KLOEs. Know where you stand at any moment.
- Daily Review Report: Shows only the KLOEs that need attention today: overdue, due soon, or never assessed.
- Readiness Trend Over Time: See how readiness has improved week by week. Useful for board reporting.
- Exportable Inspection Pack: One-click PDF snapshot formatted for inspectors or board members.
Audit Trail & Accountability
- Full audit trail per KLOE: Every change is permanently recorded: status, dates, priorities, notes, and uploads. Nothing can be edited retrospectively.
- Chronological timeline view: The full audit trail for each KLOE displayed newest first, with who made each change and when.
- File upload events in audit trail: Uploaded evidence files appear alongside compliance updates in a single unified view.
Evidence File Management
- Secure file uploads: Upload policies, audits, training records, and non-clinical images directly to each KLOE. Files are stored privately.
- Supported file types: PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), JPG, and PNG. Maximum 10 MB per file.
- Automatic virus scanning: Every uploaded file is scanned for malware before storage. Safe files display a "Scanned" badge.
- Data export: Download a full CSV of all compliance records and a ZIP of all evidence files at any time.
Security
- Multi-factor authentication: Two-factor authentication required at every login for Admin and User accounts.
- Automatic session timeout: Users are signed out after 15 minutes of inactivity, with a one-minute warning.
- Encrypted data: All data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest. Files are stored in encrypted cloud storage.
- Row-level security: Database-level access controls ensure each organisation's data is completely isolated.
- Self-service password reset: Any user can reset their password from the login page without admin involvement.
Governance & Operations
- Action Plan: Improvement actions run throughout the platform. Create tasks with due dates, priorities, and assignees directly against any KLOE, any CQC "I" statement, or any post-inspection finding. Every action is tracked from creation to sign-off. The Mock Inspection module additionally produces a three-tier prioritised action plan (Must Address, Strengthen, Maintain) at the end of each session.
- Incident Log: Record and track incidents by type, date, and status. Capture immediate actions taken, external reporting, and the learning outcome for each episode.
- Feedback Log: A structured register for complaints, compliments, suggestions, and concerns. Link feedback to a CQC key question and record what action was taken.
- Governance Meetings: Record minutes, decisions, and actions from management meetings. Searchable and ready to share with inspectors in seconds. Weekly digest sent every Monday.
CQC Register Integration
- Live CQC rating display: Your current CQC rating, registered name, and last inspection date are pulled automatically from the publicly available CQC register and refreshed every 24 hours. Nothing from your account is ever sent to CQC.
HR Module
- Complete staff records: DBS, training, supervision, appraisals, holiday, and absence tracking, including Bradford Factor calculation. Everything CQC may ask to see, in one place.
- Mandatory training tracker: Log completion dates, renewal periods, and certificates for every required training course across your whole team.
- DBS renewal alerts: Track DBS issue dates and receive reminders before they expire.
- Supervision and appraisal scheduling: Record dates, notes, and outcomes. See at a glance who is overdue.
- Holiday and absence tracking: Log annual leave in days or hours. Record and categorise absences with Bradford Factor calculated automatically per staff member.
People's Voice
- People's Voice module
- Evidence and confidence rating: Record supporting evidence and rate your confidence for each statement on a simple scale.
- Grouped by key question: Statements are organised under the relevant KLOE key question for easy navigation during inspection preparation.
- Summary dashboard: See your overall People's Voice readiness at a glance, with gaps highlighted.
- Action items: Attach improvement actions directly to individual statements and track them to completion.
Mock Inspection
- Full self-assessment tool: Steps you through every KLOE and I statement in CQC order, mirroring how an inspector would approach your service.
- Three-tier prioritised action plan: Each session produces a structured plan categorised as Must Address, Strengthen, or Maintain, so you know exactly where to focus.
- Session history: Previous mock inspection sessions are saved so you can track improvement over time.
Post-Inspection & FAC
- Inspection record: Log inspection dates, CQC ratings awarded, and draft report timelines in one place.
- Factual Accuracy Check tracker: Record every FAC challenge you submit, attach your supporting evidence, and log whether CQC upheld or rejected it.
- Post-inspection action tracking: Turn inspection findings into trackable improvement actions with owners and due dates.
Support
The platform includes a built-in Support Desk, accessible from the Support tab in the main navigation. You can raise a new support request directly from there, view the status of any open tickets, and read replies from the team, all without leaving the platform.
Yes. Email support@alwaysready.uk at any time and a real person will respond. Every request is handled personally. You will never receive an automated non-reply. If you email in reply to a support notification, your message is automatically threaded into the existing ticket so nothing gets lost.
Yes. Ara, the AlwaysReady Assistant, is available on every page of this website. Click one of the topic buttons to browse common questions, or type your own question into the chat window and Ara will answer immediately. Ara is designed to answer questions about the platform. For anything more complex, the team is available via the Support Desk or by email.
Support is available Monday to Friday, 9.00–17.00. We will get back to you as soon as possible. Ara, the AlwaysReady Assistant chatbot, is available around the clock for instant answers to common questions.
All blog posts are written by Ethna Parker, PhD, founder and developer of AlwaysReady, who holds a doctorate and has a professional background in health and adult social care.