Best dementia home care agencies in London (CQC-checked, October 2026)

Key Takeaways

This is a scored list of dementia home care agencies in London, CQC-checked on 23 October 2026. Outstanding beats Good, inspections older than four years lose 15 points, a listed dementia specialism adds 10, and a website-checked published price or live-in offer adds 5 each. We run Match With Care. We are not CQC-registered as a care provider, so we sit in a labelled box outside this list. Method: how we rank agencies.

Walfinch Chiswick, Hammersmith & Kensington leads this set on 120. That is a score, not a spare carer on Tuesday. I cannot tell you, from these pages, who actually turns up in a Shepherd's Bush kitchen next week with a named dementia course on file. That question is still open at the bottom.

Alzheimer's Society estimates 982,000 people with dementia in the UK, and more than a third without a diagnosis. The NHS puts help at home from a paid carer at about £15 to £30 an hour and is plain that a live-in carer can include specialist dementia care. Age UK (updated 18 February 2026) still points families at registered homecare agencies, or at arranging a private carer themselves, and says if savings sit above £23,250 the council will not help with care costs.

The Care Panel lists Outstanding services in London, mixing care homes with homecare. Consultus publishes its own "best live-in care agencies" page and ranks itself first. This page scores CQC locations on one method and shows the drawbacks.

What are the best dementia home care agencies in London?

On this 23 October 2026 check we scored nine CQC-registered locations that list dementia and operate in, or into, London. Walfinch Chiswick, Hammersmith & Kensington leads on published facts, at 120.

How we scored these dementia home care agencies

The CQC (updated 1 July 2025) registers people who carry on regulated activity. Homecare agencies that provide personal care have to be on that register. Introductory platforms do not, which is why they are not in this table.

Each location starts at 100 for Outstanding, 60 for Good, or 20 for Requires improvement. An inspection older than four years, or missing, loses 15. A listed dementia specialism adds 10. A website-checked published hourly or weekly from-price adds 5. A website-checked live-in offer adds 5. Ties break on the more recent inspection, then the name. Full rules: agency ranking methodology. Pages opened for this round are named under each agency. Checked 23 October 2026.

NICE guideline NG97 was last reviewed on 24 October 2025. It kept the staff-training recommendations for health and social care services. A CQC specialism of "dementia" is a registration label. It is not, on its own, proof that the carer at your door completed a named course this year.

Nadia in Shepherd's Bush had the Walfinch assessment PDF on one screen and Bluebird's April 2026 report on the other. Both said Outstanding. Only one of them had put a from-price on a page we could open.

Comparison table

Rank	Agency	Score	CQC rating	Last inspection	Website-checked fact	Drawback
1	Walfinch Chiswick, Hammersmith & Kensington	120	Outstanding	Assessment ended 10 Feb 2025	Live-in listed; from £39 an hour	Live-in from-price was not on the live-in page we opened
2	Bluebird Care (Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea)	115	Outstanding	Assessment ended 1 Apr 2026	Live-in listed on the local site	No published from-price on the pages we opened
3	Right at Home Camden, Hampstead & Golders Green	115	Outstanding	Assessment ended 27 Sep 2024	Live-in listed on the local site	Costs "vary"; no from-price
4	Unique Senior Care	105	Outstanding	Report published 27 Aug 2021	Live-in from £265 a day	Inspection more than four years old
5	The Good Care Group	105	Outstanding	Report published 12 Apr 2019	From £40 an hour; live-in from £256 a day	Inspection more than four years old
6	Helping Hands Kensington & Chelsea	80	Good	Assessment ended 26 Nov 2024	Visiting from £31 an hour; live-in from £1,675 a week	The same London page also quotes £32.40 an hour in its FAQ
7	Home Instead Kensington & Chelsea	75	Good	Assessment ended 11 Nov 2025	Live-in coordinator on the local site	No published from-price
8	Cera, Essex and Havering	75	Good	Visit 21 May 2024	National live-in page; covers Romford / Havering	No family from-price; central London CQC locations we opened are archived
9	Consultus Care and Nursing	65	Good	Inspection 21 Jan 2019	Managed live-in from £1,603 a week	Inspection more than four years old

Checked 23 October 2026. Scores follow how we rank agencies. Match With Care is not in this table.

1. Walfinch Chiswick, Hammersmith & Kensington · 120

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-12981347805 is Outstanding, with the assessment running from 6 November 2024 to 10 February 2025 and the report published 16 May 2025. Dementia is a listed specialism. That was its first assessment since registration. The branch live-in care page exists. A 24 August 2026 article on the same site publishes visiting care from £39 an hour and cites a Homecare Association 2025-26 London minimum of £38.69. Those two website facts are why it sits above the other Outstanding locations.

Where it falls short. The live-in page we opened does not publish a weekly from-price. Coverage is west and central London (Chiswick, Hammersmith, Kensington, Chelsea, Westminster), not the whole of Greater London.

Sources: CQC, live-in page, price article.

2. Bluebird Care (Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea) · 115

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-2120838566 is Outstanding, report published 17 April 2026, after an assessment from 24 March to 1 April 2026. Dementia is listed. The inspector's report says the agency supports people living with dementia. The local Westminster and City of London site lists live-in care, visiting home care, overnight care and dementia among complex-care services. This is the most recently inspected Outstanding location in the set.

Where it falls short. No hourly or weekly from-price sat on the local pages we opened, so the price bonus is zero. It trails Walfinch by those five points.

Sources: CQC, local site.

3. Right at Home Camden, Hampstead & Golders Green · 115

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-12675622003 is Outstanding, report published 8 November 2024, after on-site assessment on 20 and 21 August 2024 and off-site work ending 27 September 2024. Dementia is listed. The CQC press note says some people had a live-in care worker. The local site lists live-in care, 24-hour care and a dementia-care service, and restates the Outstanding rating.

Where it falls short. The same local FAQ says costs vary and asks you to request a quote. No from-price, so it ties Bluebird on 115 and loses the tie-break on inspection date.

Sources: CQC, local site, CQC press note.

4. Unique Senior Care · 105

Why it ranks here. Unique Care, for this list, is Unique Senior Care. CQC location 1-7601685405 in Knowle, Solihull, is Outstanding, report published 27 August 2021. Dementia is listed. The live-in page (updated 6 October 2026) publishes live-in from £265 a day for one person, says Caregivers receive specialist dementia training, and states live-in care across England including London. The dementia page (updated 16 October 2026) describes visiting through to live-in.

Where it falls short. The inspection is more than four years old, so it loses 15 points. The registered office is in Solihull. The Memory Cafés named on the dementia page are in Solihull, Knowle, Warwick, Kenilworth and Leamington Spa, not London.

Sources: CQC, live-in, dementia care.

5. The Good Care Group · 105

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-1489174477 at Portsoken House, Minories, is Outstanding, report published 12 April 2019. Dementia is listed. The 2019 inspection noted that most of the 250 people using the service were older people with a diagnosis of dementia. The costs page publishes hourly care from £40 and live-in from £256 a day. The London dementia live-in page describes 24-hour dementia care, respite from two weeks, and in-house clinicians.

Where it falls short. The inspection is more than four years old. CQC last reviewed the information on 6 July 2023 and did not reassess the rating. Unique Senior Care's 2021 report is newer, so Unique takes the 105 tie.

Sources: CQC, costs, London dementia live-in.

6. Helping Hands Kensington & Chelsea · 80

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-4525796531 at 151 Freston Road, W10, is Good, after an assessment from 29 September to 26 November 2024, report published 6 January 2025. Dementia is listed. The London dementia page lists visiting and live-in, visiting from £31 an hour, and live-in from £1,675 a week for one person. The live-in cost guide (reviewed 17 April 2026) repeats £1,675 a week, or £2,125 for a couple.

Where it falls short. The same London dementia page's FAQ quotes visiting care from £32.40 an hour. We scored the £31 figure from the body. The marketing copy also says "we do not have a physical branch in London" even though CQC registers this Kensington & Chelsea location.

Sources: CQC, London dementia, live-in costs.

7. Home Instead Kensington & Chelsea · 75

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-452823580 at 286 Old Brompton Road is Good, report published 16 January 2026, after an assessment from 28 October to 11 November 2025. Dementia is listed. The inspector's summary says the franchise provides hourly visits and live-in care, mainly to older adults and people living with dementia. The local site lists a live-in care coordinator and "round-the-clock help". The London dementia page covers Kensington among other boroughs and says Care Professionals receive specialist dementia training.

Where it falls short. No from-price on the pages we opened. Home Instead is a franchise network; this score is this location, not every London office.

Sources: CQC, local site, London dementia.

8. Cera, Essex and Havering · 75

Why it ranks here. Cera's former London location at Palmers Green is archived (Requires improvement, published 25 August 2021). A later Cera London registration page is also archived. The live CQC location we opened that still lists dementia and covers a London borough is Cera, Essex and Havering: Good, announced visit 21 May 2024, report published 12 July 2024, 178 people using the service. The Essex and Havering branch page names Romford among covered locations. Cera's live-in page offers live-in dementia care nationally.

Where it falls short. No family from-price on the live-in page or the branch page. Fees on the terms page are agreed at an introductory visit. The carer-job rates on the branch page are wages, not what a family pays. This is Havering and Essex, not inner London.

Sources: CQC Essex and Havering, archived Cera London, live-in, branch.

9. Consultus Care and Nursing · 65

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-120788654 in Tonbridge is Good, inspection 21 January 2019, report published 20 February 2019. Dementia is listed. The inspection summary said the agency provided live-in nursing or personal care country-wide in England and Wales. The costs page publishes CQC-regulated managed live-in from £1,603 a week. Introductory live-in from £1,092 is a different, non-CQC product; we scored the managed service.

Where it falls short. The inspection is more than four years old. CQC last reviewed the information on 6 July 2023 and did not reassess. Consultus's own best live-in agencies article ranks Consultus first.

Sources: CQC, costs.

Best-for picks from the same scores

• Dementia specialism, highest score: Walfinch Chiswick, Hammersmith & Kensington, 120. Every location in this set lists dementia. Walfinch is first because it also published an hourly from-price.
• Most recently inspected Outstanding: Bluebird Care (Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea), assessment ended 1 April 2026.
• Lowest website-checked published hourly from-price: Helping Hands, from £31 an hour on the London dementia page.

Remember the £38.69 Walfinch put on that August article? The NHS homecare page still prints £15 to £30 an hour for the same country. London visiting rates we actually opened start at £31 and £39. The NHS band is a national sketch. It is not a quote for a Tuesday morning in W6.

If you want an introductory platform instead of a CQC-inspected agency, that is a different list: best dementia care platforms in the UK and how we score platforms. Related: dementia care at home.

Match With Care. Our service. Not CQC-registered, different model. Best for choosing and paying your carer directly. We introduce self-employed carers, including people with dementia experience; you pick the person and you direct day-to-day care. See home care platforms.

I still cannot tell you which of these Outstanding ratings comes with a dementia-trained carer free next Tuesday.

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We run Match With Care as an introductory care marketplace, not a CQC-registered agency. If you want us to introduce a vetted self-employed carer, see who is available. We will tell you the 15% fee before you choose.