ARC vs Clearcare: what a home actually pays
Clearcare is the established name in this market, and on the headline licence fee they start lower than ARC. The headline is not the bill, though: AI is charged on top, and the best rates need a three-year commitment. Compare what a home actually pays each month and the picture changes.
Every claim about Clearcare on this page is taken from their own public material and linked to the page it came from. Where they don't publish something, we say so rather than guess. Last checked 11 August 2026.
ARC and Clearcare, row by row
Same rows on every comparison we publish, so nothing is chosen to flatter us. Numbers in brackets link to the Clearcare page each claim came from.
Green cells mark where ARC leads, slate cells where Clearcare leads. Rows tagged LEVEL are a draw.
| CAPABILITY | ARC | Clearcare |
|---|---|---|
| COST AND TERMS | ||
| Published price |
＝ LEVEL £149, £199 or £249 per home / month by registered beds (1–3, 4–6, 7+), published on our pricing page. Two months free if you pay annually. |
＝ LEVEL £150–£250 per home / month excluding VAT on a one-year contract, by bed band. Lower on longer terms: £100–£200 on three years. [1] |
| What the price is charged on Per-home, per-licence and per-bed models produce very different bills for the same home. |
ARC LEADS
The home. Staff accounts are unlimited and never change the price, whether you run five staff or twenty-five. |
The home, banded by bed count and contract length. [1] |
| AI included in the price |
ARC LEADS
Included. Advisory drafts, de-identified before inference, UK-only and audited, at no extra charge. |
No. AI is an optional extra charged on top, from £30 to £80 per month by bed band. [2] |
| Minimum contract |
ARC LEADS
None. Pay monthly and cancel at any time, or pay annually for two months free. An annual plan can be cancelled but is not refunded, and runs to the end of the paid year. |
Yes. Pricing is quoted on one, two and three-year terms, with the lowest price on the longest tie-in. [1] |
| Setup and migration fees |
＝ LEVEL None. Onboarding, training and help moving your existing records across are in the monthly price. |
＝ LEVEL No set-up fee, and a three-month implementation period with no licence fee. [2] |
| Price across a group of homes Some vendors discount the per-home rate as you add homes. |
＝ LEVEL Each home is banded on its own registration, so a group of small homes pays small-home prices. Combined billing across the group, published rates at every home, and no renegotiation as you grow. |
＝ LEVEL Not published; personalised packages are offered on request. [1] |
| THE RECORD AND THE REGULATIONS | ||
| Who the product is built for |
ARC LEADS
UK children's residential homes only. |
Children's homes and supported accommodation. [3] |
| One record per young person |
ARC LEADS
One living record: timeline of every event and entry, care plans and goals, keywork, contact, and wishes and feelings. |
Not described as a single record; confirm the structure. [3] |
| Daily recording |
＝ LEVEL Structured daily journals that compile from what staff log during the shift, with mandatory-field prompts. |
＝ LEVEL Daily logs, including from a staff companion app. [2] |
| Handover |
ARC LEADS
Compiled automatically from the shift rather than re-typed at the end of it. |
Not published. [3] |
| Incident tracking |
ARC LEADS
Incidents stay open until they are formally resolved and signed off, with missing episodes, return home interviews and physical intervention records. |
Incident tracking alongside behaviour, wellbeing and progress. [3] |
| Home finances |
＝ LEVEL Each home's cash tin, prepaid card and debit card has its own account: top-ups from your organisation, spends recorded with receipts, pocket money moved into a child's pots, and regular counts checked against the balance, with manager sign-off. |
＝ LEVEL A petty cash module with transaction tracking, receipt upload, budgets, spending limits and approvals. No cards, pocket money or children's savings are described. [4] |
| Staff rotas |
＝ LEVEL Managers build and publish rotas as a live calendar, including shifts that run across several days. Staff see the published rota, changes after publishing are flagged, and hours export as a CSV for payroll. |
＝ LEVEL Shifts, leave requests with a chosen authoriser, and clock in and out with hours tracked. No payroll export is mentioned. [5] |
| Electronic medication record (eMAR) |
＝ LEVEL Prescriptions confirmed by a second person, scheduled and as-needed doses recorded at the point of giving, a controlled drugs register with witnessing, and live stock balances. Runs alongside your pharmacy MAR until a manager signs it over as the record. |
＝ LEVEL A medication calendar with due-time reminders, a medication cabinet log, and an audit trail of which staff member gave each dose. [6] |
| Safeguarding workspace |
ARC LEADS
A separate, role-restricted workspace rather than a folder everyone can open. |
Not published as a separate restricted area; confirm visibility controls. [3] |
| Regulation 40 notifications |
ARC LEADS
Raised by a manager at incident review, where the decision belongs, then tracked per recipient with a 24-hour overdue clock and a compiled PDF for the Ofsted submission. |
Not published. [3] |
| Regulation 44 independent visits |
＝ LEVEL Structured independent-visit record with the monthly due date tracked. |
＝ LEVEL Yes, named. [3] |
| Regulation 45 quality of care reports |
＝ LEVEL Compiled from the record already entered, with manager sign-off and a full audit trail. |
＝ LEVEL Yes, named. [3] |
| DATA AND ASSURANCE | ||
| Where the data is held |
＝ LEVEL United Kingdom, named to the service: the application on Amazon EC2 and the database on Amazon RDS, both in the UK region. |
＝ LEVEL United Kingdom. [7] |
| Independent security certification Formal certification held by the supplier itself, separate from its hosting provider. | Role-restricted access, an append-only audit trail on every record, and a signed data processing agreement, running on ISO 27001-certified AWS infrastructure in the UK. |
CLEARCARE LEADS ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and Cyber Essentials Plus. [7] |
| Track record and availability How long the product has been running, and how widely. | Live now, with onboarding, migration and UK-based support included from day one. |
CLEARCARE LEADS Over 3,250 children's homes claimed. [1] |
Sources
- [1] https://www.clearcaresolutions.co.uk/price-setup/ “1-3 Bed Home · One Year Contract · £150 · PER MONTH · Excluding VAT” “7-10 Bed Homes” “Three Year Contract” “Join over 3,250 Children's Homes currently using Clearcare!”
- [2] https://www.clearcaresolutions.co.uk/faqs/ “AI is an optional extra - and there is an additional cost. ... The cost of AI is based on the number of beds in each home. 1-3 Bed Home £30 excluding VAT 4-6 Bed Home £55 excluding VAT 7-10 Bed Home £80 excluding VAT” “No, we no longer charge a set-up fee. ... At Clearcare we give you a three-month implementation period where you will not pay for your license fee.” “Create Daily Logs”
- [3] https://www.clearcaresolutions.co.uk/home-and-staff-management/ “Reg 44 & Reg 45 for Children's Homes, and Annex A, Annex A1 & Reg 32 for Supported Accommodation Provisions” “Clearcare tracks behaviour, incidents, wellbeing and progress” “Reg 44 & Reg 45 for Children's Homes”
- [4] https://www.clearcaresolutions.co.uk/petty-cash/ “Set up approval processes and spending limits”
- [5] https://www.clearcaresolutions.co.uk/rota-module/ “Clock in and out of shifts, and accurately track the hours worked by your team.”
- [6] https://www.clearcaresolutions.co.uk/medication/ “MARS Acknowledgements: Keep track of audit trails, ensuring you stay compliant and have knowledge over which staff member gave out the medication.”
- [7] https://www.clearcaresolutions.co.uk/benefits-of-clearcare-childrens-social-care-settings-software/ “Our ISO 27001 accreditation requires us to store all of your data in the UK” “Clearcare maintain rigorous security standards which are reflected in our ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and Cyber Essentials Plus certification.”
Clearcare information taken from their own public material, last checked 11 August 2026. We re-check every comparison at least every 6 months. If anything here is out of date or wrong, email hello@arccare.co.uk and we will correct it.
When Clearcare is the better choice
Clearcare holds ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and Cyber Essentials Plus, and they have been running for over twenty years with thousands of homes on the system. If your local authority or board requires a certified supplier, that settles it. Their smallest band is also £150 a month on a one-year term, so a one-to-three bed home that does not want AI can run Clearcare for less than ARC.
Compare the whole bill, not the headline
ARC is £149, £199 or £249 per home per month, set by the number of beds the home is registered for. That covers unlimited staff accounts, every feature, AI, onboarding and migration, billed monthly or annually. There is no premium tier and the price does not move as your team grows.
Headline prices in this market are rarely the whole bill. Add-ons, per-licence charges, setup fees and the discount that only applies on a three-year tie-in all change the number. Ask every supplier the same five questions and compare what comes back.
See ARC's full pricing →Questions to ask any supplier
- Is the price per home, per registered place, or per user?
- Which features sit behind a higher tier or an add-on — including AI?
- What do onboarding, training and data migration cost?
- Is that price conditional on a one, two or three-year term?
- Where is our data hosted, and where does any AI processing happen?
ARC and Clearcare: common questions
Is Clearcare cheaper than ARC?
No, and the AI charge is what separates them. Clearcare's one-to-three bed band is £150 per month excluding VAT on a one-year contract, against ARC's £149 billed monthly with no long-term contract. For a seven-to-ten bed home Clearcare is £250 against ARC's £249, and Clearcare charges £80 per month more for AI, taking it to £330 against ARC's £249 with AI included.
Does Clearcare charge extra for AI?
Yes. Clearcare states that AI is an optional extra with an additional cost, priced by bed count at £30, £55 and £80 per month excluding VAT. ARC includes AI in the band price, whichever band you are in.
Do I have to sign a contract with Clearcare?
Clearcare publishes prices on one, two and three-year terms, with the lowest price on the longest term. ARC is billed monthly or annually, and a monthly plan can be cancelled at any time. Neither charges a setup fee.
Is Clearcare ISO 27001 certified?
Yes. Clearcare states ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and Cyber Essentials Plus certification, and that ISO 27001 requires them to store all data in the UK. ARC holds data in the UK but does not currently hold these certifications.
Moving from Clearcare to ARC
Changing recording system mid-placement is a real risk, so we plan the move around your home rather than the other way round. Onboarding and migration are included in the monthly price.
Review what you hold
We look at your current records together and agree what must come across and what can be archived.
Migrate the record
Young person records, plans and open incidents are moved and checked before anyone relies on them.
Train on shift
Short sessions with the people who will use it, in the home, on real entries.
Run in parallel
A short overlap so nothing is lost, then a clean cut-over on a date you choose.