Home care agency · Portsmouth
Handle With Care
Illustrative photo, not of Handle With Care- Address
- 188 Copnor Road, Portsmouth, PO3 5DA
- Run by
- Handle With Care (Portsmouth) Limited
- Type of provider
- Independent (private company)
- Service
- Home care agency
- Dementia
- Registered with CQC to support people living with dementia
- Registered with CQC
- December 2010 (15 years)
- Registered manager
- Andrea Fearnhead Isobel Diana Fearnhead-Clark
- Company check
- Active, trading since 2002 (23 years), accounts up to date (Companies House 04605604)
- Last CQC check
- 1 Dec 2021
- Typical fees Estimated
- £30–£37 an hour for visiting care, weekdays; live-in £1,450–£1,770 a week. An estimate based on local published fees. Ask for a written quote. How we estimate
CQC regulated activities: Personal care
More in Portsmouth: Home care in Portsmouth (119) · Best rated home care agencies in Portsmouth · Dementia care at home in Portsmouth · Elderly care at home in Portsmouth · Physical disability care at home in Portsmouth · Live-in care in Portsmouth
Full report at cqc.org.uk · CQC location ID 1-109824781
About Handle With Care
Handle With Care is a CQC-registered home care agency in Portsmouth, run by Handle With Care (Portsmouth) Limited. Its CQC registration covers adults of all ages, including people living with dementia and physical disabilities.
At its most recent rating, CQC judged it Good overall (December 2021). It is one of 119 CQC-registered home care agencies that have an office within 7 miles of Portsmouth; 62 of those are rated Good or Outstanding.
The five key questions
- Safe24 of 32 in Portsmouth
- Effective26 of 32 in Portsmouth
- Caring25 of 32 in Portsmouth
- Responsive25 of 32 in Portsmouth
- Well-led22 of 32 in Portsmouth
As rated by CQC, published 1 December 2021. Under each rating: how many agencies in Portsmouth share it.
Strengths and weak spots in the ratings
CQC rated every one of the five key questions Good here, so there is no weak spot in the published ratings.
For leadership (Well-led), it shares its Good rating with 21 of the 31 other agencies in Portsmouth that CQC has rated.
Budgeting for this agency
We estimate visits from Handle With Care at £30–£37 an hour (visiting care, weekdays), based on published prices in the region. As an example, an hour each morning and a 30-minute evening call comes to about £350 a week.
A live-in carer typically costs £1,450–£1,770 a week locally.
Portsmouth Council can help with costs for people with savings under £23,250, starting with a free assessment.
How it fits locally
Choice is wide here: the 25 nearest other agencies are all within 3 miles, 14 of them rated Good or Outstanding, and the closest is Enable Ability, under 0.5 miles away.
13 of the 16 nearest rated agencies have a more recent rating than this one.
It sits in Baffins ward, classed by ONS as urban (nearer to a major town or city), among the 50% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. NHS services here are planned by NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB.
Who runs it
Handle With Care is run by Handle With Care (portsmouth) Limited (company 04605604), incorporated in 2002, 8 years before this service registered with CQC.
At Companies House, the company is listed as active, its accounts are filed on time, it has 1 active director and there is no insolvency history.
Ratings over time
- May 2017
- Sep 2017
- Jul 2018
- Aug 2019
- Dec 2021
- Today Rating 4 years old
Every overall rating on record for this location, earliest first.
Inspection reports to read
- CQC inspection report 1 December 2021
- CQC inspection report 20 August 2019
- CQC inspection report 4 July 2018
- CQC inspection report 22 September 2017
- CQC inspection report 12 May 2017
- Inspection report 22 October 2014
Map and area details
- Ward
- Baffins
- Council
- Portsmouth City Council · paying for care
- Parliamentary constituency
- Portsmouth North
- NHS area (integrated care board)
- NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board
- Area classification
- Urban; nearer to a major town or city
- Neighbourhood deprivation
- Among the 50% most deprived areas in England
- Postcode district
- Home care in PO3 (6)
See the wider area · Plan a journey · © OpenStreetMap contributors
Local area facts: ONS and NHS geography via postcodes.io, Open Government Licence. Care happens at home, not here: this is where the agency is run from.
Key points from CQC's visit
- People and their relatives told us they felt safe and the provider met their needs.
- Some care plans and risk assessments required further detail, but staff knew people well and understood how to support them safely.
- Staff had good access to PPE to ensure people were protected from the risk of infection.
- Information about people's health needs was not always described within their care plan or risk assessment, although some detail was documented.
Inspected 13 October 2021; report published 1 December 2021. Quoted from the CQC report summary, Open Government Licence. Read the full report.
History with CQC
Handle With Care has been registered with CQC since December 2010, about 15 years.
CQC has published 5 overall ratings for it (2017–2021), starting at Requires improvement; it has gone up 2 and down 1 time, and is now Good.
4 years have passed since the last overall rating. Services judged lower-risk wait longer for a visit, but teams change, so check what is different today.
There are 6 CQC reports on file for this address; the newest is from 1 December 2021.
Registered specialisms
Taken from its CQC registration.
Family reviews
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Where Handle With Care stands locally
- Rated Good. Across Portsmouth, 77% of the 31 rated home care agencies are Good or Outstanding and 2 are Outstanding.
- Its rating (December 2021) is more recent than 23% of agency ratings in Portsmouth.
- Registered with CQC in 2010, it is one of the longest-registered home care agencies in the area.
- It lists 4 specialisms with CQC; the typical agency in Portsmouth lists 6.
Based on the CQC register for Portsmouth as at Oct 2026.
Nearest home care agencies
Guides for families
Other home care agencies near Portsmouth with recent ratings
- Home Instead PortsmouthNov 2024 · 1.4 miles
- The YOU TrustJul 2026 · under 0.5 miles
- Triple M Healthcare LtdApr 2026 · 0.7 miles
Questions about Handle With Care
- When was Handle With Care last inspected?
- The rating now shown was published on 1 December 2021, 4 years ago. Ask what has changed since then, for example in management or staffing.
- Is Handle With Care registered for dementia care?
- Yes, it is registered for dementia. Worth asking: how many staff are trained, and how routines are kept consistent.
- Is Handle With Care a registered provider?
- Yes: CQC lists it as a home care agency under location ID 1-109824781 and was rated Good overall in December 2021.
- Where is Handle With Care?
- The agency's base is 188 Copnor Road, Portsmouth, PO3 5DA. Confirm that its carers travel to your area.
- How is Handle With Care rated for safety and leadership?
- The five CQC areas: Safe: Good; Effective: Good; Caring: Good; Responsive: Good; Well-led: Good. Safe and Well-led are the two to read first in the report.
- What are Handle With Care's fees?
- Handle With Care's prices aren't on our site yet. Visiting care typically costs around £32–£34 an hour (typical 2026 prices across England). Ask for written prices covering weekends, bank holidays and any travel or set-up charges.
- Who runs Handle With Care?
- On CQC's register the provider is Handle With Care (Portsmouth) Limited.
- What kind of care can Handle With Care offer?
- CQC lists Handle With Care under: homecare agencies. Check which of these it is actively providing now.
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In Portsmouth
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Information: Care Quality Commission, Oct 2026 (Open Government Licence v3.0). Sections in the provider's own words are theirs; we compiled everything else from public data. The Care Panel is independent and not a care provider.