You have been through the assessment calls. You have filled in the forms. Someone is coming to your parent's home on Monday morning, and you would quite like to know a little more about them before that happens. Not an essay. Just whether someone who has worked with them before would speak well of them. You ask the agency if you can see references. The answer, delivered in the same measured tone as everything else, is no.

That feeling of 'no' lands differently when it is about someone who is going to be alone in your parent's home, perhaps helping them wash and dress, perhaps managing their medication. It is not fussiness. It is not you being difficult. It is a completely reasonable thing to want.

So why does it keep happening?

Why most agencies will not show you a carer's references

The short answer is that most agencies in this country do not see the references as yours to see. In their model, the carer is employed by or contracted to the agency. The agency carries out its own vetting, and they consider that vetting to be an internal process. They will tell you that the carer has been DBS-checked, that references were taken up, that training has been completed. But the actual reference letters, the conversations with previous employers, the detail of what was said: that stays inside the organisation.

There are a few reasons given. Data protection is the most common one. Under UK data protection law, a reference written about a worker can be considered confidential, and sharing it with a third party without the consent of the person who wrote it raises real questions. Agencies also argue, sometimes fairly, that verbal references are nuanced and could be misread without context.

But there is another reason, less often stated. In a managed agency model, the family is not the carer's employer. The family is the client of the agency. The agency stands between you and the carer by design. Giving families direct access to references starts to erode that boundary, and some agencies are uncomfortable with that.

None of this makes the 'no' feel better when your parent is starting care on Monday.

What your rights actually are

As a care recipient or their family in a home care setting, you have the right to know that basic vetting has been done. The Care Quality Commission expects registered home care providers to follow safe recruitment practices. This includes obtaining references before placing a worker with a vulnerable adult, verifying a carer's identity, and carrying out an enhanced DBS check. You are entirely within your rights to ask the agency to confirm, in writing, that all three of these have been completed for the specific person coming to your home. If they cannot confirm that, that is a safeguarding concern you can raise with the CQC directly at cqc.org.uk.

What you cannot legally compel a managed agency to do is hand you the references themselves. That is the reality of the current model.

You can, however, ask the agency to arrange for you to speak with the carer in advance, and any agency worth working with should make this happen. A proper introductory call or meeting before care begins is not a luxury. It is how you build any reasonable degree of trust. If that request is also refused, that tells you something important.

Skills for Care publishes guidance on what good recruitment in home care looks like, and the Homecare Association maintains standards for its members around safe staffing. Families who feel an agency has not met its vetting obligations can also raise complaints through the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

What a different shape of arrangement looks like

There is another model, which works quite differently. In an introductory arrangement, the agency's job is to find and vet the carer, and then to introduce them directly to the family. The family then employs or engages the carer directly. In that arrangement, because you are the carer's direct employer, you can ask to see whatever references have been gathered. There is no contractual layer sitting between you and the answer.

More importantly, in this model, you typically meet the carer before any arrangement begins. Not a phone call scheduled by a coordinator. An actual meeting, where you can ask questions, where your parent can form a first impression, where you get to decide whether this is the right person. If it is not, you ask to see someone else. That directness is the whole point.

Good care in any arrangement, managed or introductory, involves at a minimum: confirmation of an enhanced DBS check, references taken up and available to be discussed with you, a meeting between your family and the carer before day one, and a clear process if something goes wrong. If any of those are missing, the rest of the reassurances mean very little.

At Hibant, every carer we introduce to families has been independently DBS-checked and had references verified by us before any introduction happens. The family meets the carer in person before any arrangement begins. That is not an upgrade option. It is the only way we work.

What families in this situation tell us they wish they had known is that asking to see references is not an unreasonable request. It is a signal that you are paying attention, and any carer who is confident in their own record should not mind you asking.

One thing to do this week

If care is already in place and you are still uneasy about the vetting that was done, call the Carers UK Helpline on 0808 808 7777. They have advisers who can help you think through what questions to ask and what you are entitled to expect. They have no commercial stake in the answer. They just know this space well.

If you would rather not be in this position again, the next section is for you.

If you want to feel certain about who is coming through your parent's door before that door opens, we would like to help. We are a London introductory care agency. Every carer we introduce has been DBS-checked, had references verified, and has sat down with us before we introduce them to any family. You meet the carer yourself before any arrangement begins. You choose. You can email us at hello@hibantcare.com or read more about how we work at hibantcare.com.

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