Terms of use
CareSectorWatch is free to use and asks nothing of you. These terms exist so that what the site is — and is not — is written down.
What this site is
CareSectorWatch presents the Care Quality Commission’s published open data about registered adult social care services in England, together with plain-English guides to how the care system works. It is published by Doctor Data Ltd (England and Wales, company no. 13168780). It is independent analysis and is not endorsed by, or affiliated with, the CQC.
Information, not advice
Everything here — the pages, the guides, and the care assistant — is general information to help you navigate choices. It is not professional, clinical, financial or legal advice, it is not a recommendation of any service, and it is never an assessment of what care anyone needs. The formal route to that decision is a council care needs assessment, which is free to ask for. For anything medical, speak to a GP or NHS 111 — or 999 in an emergency.
The care assistant
The assistant answers from CQC’s published data and general knowledge of how care in England is arranged. It can be wrong, and it says so when it cannot know something — it holds no fees, vacancies or waiting lists. Do not rely on it as the sole basis for a care decision, and do not use it to attempt to extract personal data, to generate content about identifiable private individuals, or to probe or disrupt the service. We may rate-limit or withdraw it at any time; it is a free tool, not a committed service.
The data, and what it is not
Ratings and registration facts are CQC’s own, shown verbatim with their publication dates, under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Inspection findings may predate the page you read them on; services change hands, close and are re-inspected. We refresh when CQC publishes, and every page carries the date its data is current to. Nothing here is a statement about a service’s present-day quality, and no provider pays to appear, rank higher, or be removed.
Our responsibility to you
The site is provided “as is”, free of charge, and we make no warranty that it is complete, current or fit for a particular purpose. To the fullest extent the law allows, Doctor Data Ltd is not liable for loss arising from reliance on the site or the assistant. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded — including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.
Corrections and right of reply
If you run a service listed here and believe a page misstates CQC’s published record, email mustafa@doctor-data.co.uk — corrections are checked against CQC’s own files and fixed in the next release. The same address handles any other complaint about the site.
The boring but necessary part
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction. If part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest stands. We may update these terms; the date below always reflects the current version. Your privacy is covered separately, in plain English, at /privacy.
Last updated 10 August 2026.