From 10 November 2026, CareOS supports day centres. It is the sixth care setting in CareOS, alongside home care, supported living, care homes, children's homes and care staffing. This news is for day centre operators and for the councils that commission day services.
What a day centre can run in CareOS
A day centre can set up and run the following in CareOS:
• Its centres, rooms, activities and closure days. A centre can be closed for a day, which cancels that day's sessions, and reopened, which brings them back.
• Repeating and one-off sessions. CareOS refuses a repeating session outside opening hours, on a closed day, over a room's capacity, or in a room without the equipment an activity needs.
• Enrolment, regular attendance, bookings and a waiting list.
• Funding authorisations, with usage tracked against each one, and billing.
• Transport, with vehicles, drivers and journeys, and a My runs screen for crews.
People, attendance and bookings
A person can be enrolled at a centre and booked into every matching session on the days they attend, and a single date can be skipped without changing the rest of their pattern.
When a session is full, the person joins the waiting list, and a manager can give them a place when one frees up. A Today view shows each session's expected people and waiting list for any date.
Funding and billing
Funding is recorded for each person as an authorisation. It names the funder, such as a council, the NHS, a personal budget or the person themselves, and sets an allowance in sessions or hours. For any week, month or the whole authorisation, the balance shows what is authorised, booked, attended and left.
If a session does not fit what is left, CareOS does not confirm the place silently. A manager can confirm it with a reason. Billing rules say whether attended sessions, late cancellations, cancellations with notice and sessions a person did not come to are chargeable.
Transport
Vehicles are recorded with their seats, wheelchair spaces and equipment. A person's transport needs can include pickup and drop-off addresses and time windows, a mobility aid and help getting on and off. A manager plans a run, chooses the vehicle, driver and assistant, and sees what the run still lacks before marking it ready.
Before a run can leave, CareOS checks the seats, wheelchair spaces and equipment, and that the vehicle's MOT and insurance and the driver's licence and training are in date. Crews see only what a safe pickup and handover needs, not the person's care record.
What this means for day centres
A day centre can keep its sessions, bookings, funding and transport in one place. Our approach to staffing is that it follows the people booked in, not a fixed ratio.
Find out more
If you run a day centre, or you commission day services, you can read more about CareOS, our care management platform on the CareOS website.
