How to Reduce Turnover in Home Care: What Commissioners Want to See

August 6, 2025

🧠 Blog 3 of 7 in our ‘Domiciliary Care Recruitment in Tenders’ Series

Turnover is the elephant in the room — and commissioners know it. Simply saying you offer good pay or have a ‘positive culture’ won’t cut it. They want to know how you're tackling the root causes of staff leaving.

Here’s what strong tenders say about staff retention in home care:

📊 Use retention data — if your turnover is better than the sector average, say so. If it's improving, show the trend.
📣 Share staff feedback — use quotes or summary findings from surveys and exit interviews to show what staff value and what you're improving.
📈 Link to development — show how retention connects to supervision, training, internal promotion, and recognition.

Home care is tough work. Commissioners know that. What they’re looking for is a provider who understands why staff leave — and what you’re doing to make them stay.

Common weaknesses we see in this section:

⚠️ Generic pledges — saying you value staff is nice, but it doesn’t show how you actually retain them.
🔁 Focusing only on recruitment — retention deserves equal (or more) attention if you want to show long-term stability.
📉 Not acknowledging challenges — it’s okay to admit you're working on this area. Just show a plan and progress.

When you can demonstrate progress, learning, and staff voice, your tender feels credible. It says, “We’re not perfect — but we’re serious about getting this right.”

📚 Explore the full 7-part series on Recruitment in Domiciliary Care Tenders:

1️⃣ 💬 Why Recruitment Is the Achilles’ Heel of So Many Domiciliary Care Tenders
2️⃣ ✅ “We Recruit Locally” Isn’t Enough in Domiciliary Care Tenders
3️⃣ 🔁 How to Reduce Turnover in Home Care: What Commissioners Want to See
4️⃣ 🗣️ How to Use Staff Voice to Strengthen Your Domiciliary Care Tender
5️⃣ 🧭 How to Create a Compelling Recruitment Narrative in Domiciliary Care Tenders
6️⃣ 💼 How to Evidence Fair Pay and Career Development in Home Care Tenders
7️⃣ 🧠 How to Align Your Workforce Plan with Commissioner Expectations in Home Care Tenders