AuditReady.care vs QCS — different problems, different tools
AuditReady.care and QCS (Quality Compliance Systems) are both compliance software used by UK care providers, but they solve different problems. AuditReady.care is built around the Home Office sponsor licence — visas, SMS reportable events, Certificate of Sponsorship, right-to-work. QCS is built around CQC policies, procedures and mock inspections. Here is what each does, where they overlap, and how to decide. Many operators run both.
Side-by-side
17 points of comparison| AuditReady.care | QCS | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Home Office sponsor licence | CQC policies & procedures |
| Pricing | Published, £36–£150 per site / month | Custom quote (not published) |
| Sponsored worker records | Built-in | No |
| SMS reportable-event detection | With 10 / 20 WD deadline calc | No |
| Certificate of Sponsorship tracking | Yes | No |
| Right-to-work audit trail | Dated capture | No |
| Visa / BRP expiry alerts | 30-day amber + red | No |
| DBS / PVG tracking | Yes | Via general document records |
| Policies library (CQC fundamental standards) | No | Lawyer-maintained |
| Mock-inspection framework | No | Yes |
| Worker self-service portal | Document view & upload | Policy acknowledgement |
| One-click audit packs | Per-worker PDF | Inspection reports |
| Multi-site head-office view | Yes | Yes |
| Legislation watch | Weekly scan of gov.uk + CI guidance | Lawyer-driven policies refresh cadence |
| UK / EU hosted | Supabase, London | Yes |
| Mandatory 2FA | Yes | Available |
| Setup fee | £234 per site, one-off | Varies with onboarding scope |
Which should you pick
Pick AuditReady.care if
You hold a Home Office Skilled Worker sponsor licence and the SMS reportable-event discipline is your live risk. Or your most recent CQC / Care Inspectorate inspection flagged evidence gaps on sponsored workers — visa, right-to-work, DBS/PVG, CoS. Or you want transparent per-site pricing you can budget from, not a sales call.
Pick QCS if
Your main compliance workload is CQC policy upkeep and audits against the fundamental standards. Or you want a mock-inspection framework and a lawyer-maintained policies library. Or you don't currently sponsor overseas workers, so the Home Office SMS duties don't apply.
Run both if
You hold a sponsor licence AND you're a CQC-regulated provider — these are two different compliance programmes against two different regulators (Home Office and CQC / Care Inspectorate). AuditReady.care doesn't duplicate QCS and QCS doesn't duplicate AuditReady.care. Many of our customers run both.
Pricing honesty
QCS pricing isn’t published; it varies with site count, module selection and sales conversation. In public write-ups from care-sector buyers it typically falls between £150 and £350 per site per month with modules included, custom-quoted.
AuditReady.care is £36–£150 per site per month, published on the pricing page, every band includes the full product. One-off setup is £234 per site. No per-user cost. Monthly billing, no minimum term, full data export at any time.
Why this comparison is honest
We’re a sponsor-licence specialist, not a policies platform. We’re deliberately not trying to be QCS. If your pain is CQC policies, QCS is older, bigger and does the job well. If your pain is sponsor-licence evidence, AuditReady.care is built around it — but we’ll be the first to say pick QCS if that’s your actual compliance workload.
Frequently asked
- Can AuditReady.care replace QCS?
- Only if you don't need a care-sector policies library and a mock-inspection framework. AuditReady.care doesn't publish policies and doesn't maintain a CQC fundamental standards framework. If that's your main compliance workload, QCS is the right tool.
- Can QCS replace AuditReady.care?
- Only if you don't hold a Home Office sponsor licence. QCS covers care-sector CQC and Care Inspectorate compliance well, but doesn't track SMS reportable events, Certificates of Sponsorship, visa expiries or sponsored-worker document trails specifically.
- Do you integrate with QCS?
- Not yet. The record shapes are different enough — AuditReady.care is per-worker, QCS is per-policy — that an integration would need a specific use case to design against. Open to it if that case exists for your operation.
- What about Borderless, Lifted Talent or Radar Healthcare?
- Those are the direct sponsor-licence comparisons. Borderless is an Immigration Advice Authority accredited platform covering licence applications, visa processing and compliance — see our AuditReady.care vs Borderless page. Lifted Talent is a six-stage hire-to-retain platform including AI-powered recruitment — see AuditReady.care vs Lifted Talent. Radar Healthcare is UK risk and incident management with CQC audits — see AuditReady.care vs Radar Healthcare. QCS is a different category again: CQC policies and procedures.