✧ Research
Care home ratings by council in England
How care homes in each council area of England are rated by the Care Quality Commission, how long it has been since the regulator last checked them, and how many care home places there are for older people. Built from CQC's register and ONS population estimates, with the full table free to download.
Key findings
- About 1 in 3 inspected care homes in England (34.5%) has had no CQC check for more than five years, and 64.7% none for more than three.
- 2,369 of 13,638 rated care homes are rated Requires improvement (2,268) or Inadequate (101). 619 are rated Outstanding.
- Nursing homes fare worse than residential homes: 19.8% are rated below Good, against 16.3%.
- Where you live matters. In Coventry, 35.3% of rated care homes are below Good; in Merton, 0%.
- England has 300 care home beds for older people for every 1,000 people aged 85 and over. Haringey has 92, the fewest of any council ranked; Leicester has 463.
- In Wokingham, 65.1% of care homes have not been checked by CQC for more than five years, the highest of the 140 councils ranked.
Figures cover 14,892 care homes registered with CQC in England (487,055 beds), of which 13,638 have a current overall rating. Data produced by CQC on 2 September 2026.
Councils with the most care homes rated below Good
Share of rated care homes in each council area rated Requires improvement or Inadequate. Councils with fewer than 20 rated homes are not ranked.
| # | Council | Below Good | Homes below Good | Rated homes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coventry | 35.3% | 24 | 68 |
| 2 | Rochdale | 35.2% | 19 | 54 |
| 3 | Norfolk | 34.4% | 101 | 294 |
| 4 | Wolverhampton | 34.3% | 23 | 67 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 33.3% | 26 | 78 |
| 6 | Medway | 31.7% | 19 | 60 |
| 7 | Walsall | 30.5% | 18 | 59 |
| 8 | Dudley | 30.1% | 25 | 83 |
| 9 | West Northamptonshire | 29.9% | 29 | 97 |
| 10 | Sandwell | 29.1% | 23 | 79 |
Councils with the fewest care homes rated below Good
| # | Council | Below Good | Outstanding | Rated homes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merton | 0% | 2.9% | 35 |
| 2 | Bristol | 2.3% | 3.4% | 87 |
| 3 | South Tyneside | 3.2% | 3.2% | 31 |
| 4 | North Somerset | 3.4% | 0% | 89 |
| 5 | Hartlepool | 3.7% | 0% | 27 |
| 6 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 3.9% | 5.5% | 127 |
| 7 | South Gloucestershire | 4.1% | 14.9% | 74 |
| 8 | Gateshead | 4.2% | 4.2% | 48 |
| 9 | Lewisham | 4.3% | 0% | 46 |
| 10 | Sunderland | 4.6% | 8% | 87 |
Councils where care homes have gone longest without a check
Share of inspected care homes whose latest CQC check was more than five years before the data was produced.
| # | Council | Not checked in 5+ years | Typical years since check | Care homes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wokingham | 65.1% | 5.8 | 45 |
| 2 | West Berkshire | 65% | 6.4 | 45 |
| 3 | Reading | 62.1% | 5.5 | 32 |
| 4 | Cambridgeshire | 58.1% | 5.4 | 140 |
| 5 | Thurrock | 56% | 5.3 | 26 |
| 6 | Stoke-on-Trent | 55.8% | 5.3 | 84 |
| 7 | Birmingham | 54.5% | 5.3 | 282 |
| 8 | Herefordshire | 51.9% | 5.4 | 86 |
| 9 | Sandwell | 51.9% | 5.4 | 94 |
| 10 | Telford and Wrekin | 51.4% | 5.2 | 39 |
Care home places for older people
Beds in care homes for older people, for every 1,000 people aged 85 and over (ONS mid-2025 population estimates). Across England the figure is 300. Many people, particularly in London, move to a care home outside their own council area, so a low figure means fewer places nearby, not that none can be found.
| # | Council | Beds per 1,000 aged 85+ | Beds | People aged 85+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haringey | 92 | 326 | 3,529 |
| 2 | Hounslow | 147 | 684 | 4,645 |
| 3 | Brent | 158 | 929 | 5,891 |
| 4 | Lewisham | 175 | 718 | 4,108 |
| 5 | Newham | 176 | 535 | 3,042 |
| 6 | Lambeth | 177 | 617 | 3,486 |
| 7 | Waltham Forest | 191 | 740 | 3,874 |
| 8 | Bromley | 193 | 1,806 | 9,373 |
| 9 | Richmond upon Thames | 194 | 873 | 4,491 |
| 10 | Thurrock | 200 | 597 | 2,987 |
| # | Council | Beds per 1,000 aged 85+ | Beds | People aged 85+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leicester | 463 | 2,707 | 5,848 |
| 2 | Middlesbrough | 458 | 1,499 | 3,273 |
| 3 | Stoke-on-Trent | 436 | 2,544 | 5,836 |
| 4 | Hull | 422 | 2,077 | 4,918 |
| 5 | East Riding of Yorkshire | 412 | 5,432 | 13,200 |
| 6 | Kingston upon Thames | 402 | 1,538 | 3,825 |
| 7 | Blackpool | 398 | 1,539 | 3,868 |
| 8 | Windsor and Maidenhead | 398 | 1,922 | 4,835 |
| 9 | Stockton-on-Tees | 397 | 1,937 | 4,880 |
| 10 | Blackburn with Darwen | 390 | 1,035 | 2,655 |
Care home ratings by region
| Region | Care homes | Below Good | Outstanding | Not checked in 5+ years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East of England | 1,644 | 20.6% | 5.3% | 41% |
| East Midlands | 1,463 | 20% | 6.3% | 28.6% |
| London | 1,282 | 10.6% | 2.7% | 25.2% |
| North East | 740 | 8.1% | 5.9% | 24.6% |
| North West | 1,879 | 20.2% | 3.5% | 33.2% |
| South East | 2,844 | 18.2% | 4.5% | 39% |
| South West | 1,859 | 10.9% | 5.6% | 33.6% |
| West Midlands | 1,700 | 22.3% | 2.8% | 42.2% |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | 1,480 | 19.6% | 4.9% | 31.6% |
| England | 14,892 | 17.4% | 4.5% | 34.5% |
Every council in England
Find your council, or select a column heading to sort. Each row links to our local page for that area.
| Local page | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | 23 | 4.8% | 4.8% | 2.8 | 19% | 251 | Care in Dagenham |
| Barnet | 79 | 15.8% | 1.3% | 4.0 | 34.2% | 292 | Care in Edgware |
| Barnsley | 71 | 17.9% | 7.5% | 3.2 | 28.4% | 362 | Care in Barnsley |
| Bath and North East Somerset | 55 | 15.7% | 2% | 3.1 | 27.5% | 306 | Care in Bath |
| Bedford | 73 | 22.9% | 7.1% | 2.9 | 25.7% | 313 | Care in Bedford |
| Bexley | 31 | 24.1% | 3.4% | 3.8 | 37.9% | 241 | Care in Sidcup |
| Birmingham | 282 | 22.7% | 1.2% | 5.3 | 54.5% | 310 | Care in Birmingham |
| Blackburn with Darwen | 35 | 16.1% | 0% | 3.9 | 35.5% | 390 | Care in Blackburn |
| Blackpool | 69 | 21.9% | 9.4% | 3.8 | 29.2% | 398 | Care in Blackpool |
| Bolton | 59 | 16.1% | 5.4% | 3.5 | 36.4% | 284 | Care in Bolton |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 135 | 3.9% | 5.5% | 2.1 | 16.2% | 307 | Care in Bournemouth |
| Bracknell Forest* | 18 | 26.7% | 13.3% | 4.5 | 33.3% | 278 | Care in Bracknell |
| Bradford | 107 | 23.3% | 3.9% | 3.4 | 34% | 328 | Care in Bradford |
| Brent | 47 | 13.3% | 0% | 3.2 | 22.2% | 158 | Care in Wembley |
| Brighton and Hove | 86 | 10.8% | 4.8% | 3.8 | 37.3% | 325 | Care in Brighton |
| Bristol | 92 | 2.3% | 3.4% | 4.5 | 44.2% | 307 | Care in Bristol |
| Bromley | 53 | 8.7% | 4.3% | 3.3 | 28.3% | 193 | Care in Bromley |
| Buckinghamshire | 134 | 27.5% | 5% | 4.7 | 47.1% | 279 | Care in Buckinghamshire |
| Bury | 53 | 14% | 6% | 3.9 | 27.5% | 294 | Care in Bury |
| Calderdale | 47 | 22% | 4.9% | 3.7 | 40.5% | 253 | Care in Halifax |
| Cambridgeshire | 140 | 8% | 7.2% | 5.4 | 58.1% | 286 | Care in Cambridgeshire |
| Camden* | 11 | 18.2% | 0% | 3.4 | 9.1% | 149 | Care in Camden |
| Central Bedfordshire | 64 | 22.8% | 5.3% | 4.5 | 33.9% | 261 | Care in Dunstable |
| Cheshire East | 105 | 22.9% | 3.1% | 4.2 | 39.2% | 347 | Care in Macclesfield |
| Cheshire West and Chester | 85 | 25.7% | 0% | 4.3 | 36.5% | 298 | Care in Chester |
| Cornwall | 200 | 18.7% | 2.6% | 3.8 | 28.7% | 234 | Care in Cornwall |
| County Durham | 146 | 7.1% | 7.1% | 3.6 | 24.1% | 356 | Care in County Durham |
| Coventry | 72 | 35.3% | 1.5% | 4.3 | 37.7% | 262 | Care in Coventry |
| Croydon | 129 | 9.2% | 2.5% | 3.6 | 30.3% | 384 | Care in Croydon |
| Cumberland | 78 | 19.2% | 3.8% | 3.8 | 38.2% | 252 | Care in Carlisle |
| Darlington | 32 | 13.8% | 6.9% | 3.9 | 31% | 385 | Care in Darlington |
| Derby | 74 | 22.1% | 2.9% | 3.0 | 17.6% | 340 | Care in Derby |
| Derbyshire | 245 | 18.1% | 5% | 3.6 | 29% | 308 | Care in Derbyshire |
| Devon | 308 | 10.2% | 7.4% | 4.5 | 45.8% | 251 | Care in Devon |
| Doncaster | 81 | 20% | 5.3% | 1.3 | 9.1% | 312 | Care in Doncaster |
| Dorset | 119 | 5.6% | 5.6% | 3.1 | 25.2% | 249 | Care in Dorset |
| Dudley | 92 | 30.1% | 0% | 4.5 | 42% | 250 | Care in Dudley |
| Ealing | 35 | 14.3% | 0% | 2.4 | 8.6% | 203 | Care in Ealing |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | 151 | 22.6% | 9% | 3.8 | 33.3% | 412 | Care in Bridlington |
| East Sussex | 298 | 15.2% | 1.8% | 3.6 | 32% | 369 | Care in East Sussex |
| Enfield | 82 | 18.7% | 1.3% | 4.5 | 39.2% | 252 | Care in Enfield |
| Essex | 408 | 16.4% | 1.9% | 4.3 | 44.1% | 266 | Care in Essex |
| Gateshead | 50 | 4.2% | 4.2% | 1.8 | 16.7% | 357 | Care in Gateshead |
| Gloucestershire | 201 | 14.4% | 7.4% | 4.5 | 44.7% | 266 | Care in Gloucestershire |
| Greenwich | 43 | 17.1% | 0% | 4.9 | 48.8% | 242 | Care in Greenwich |
| Hackney* | 13 | 15.4% | 0% | 5.4 | 53.8% | 106 | Care in Hackney |
| Halton | 25 | 25% | 0% | 4.3 | 45.8% | 272 | Care in Widnes |
| Hammersmith and Fulham* | 11 | 11.1% | 11.1% | 1.3 | 0% | 237 | Care in Hammersmith |
| Hampshire | 483 | 15.3% | 5.7% | 4.2 | 40.8% | 300 | Care in Hampshire |
| Haringey | 24 | 12.5% | 0% | 3.7 | 33.3% | 92 | Care in Muswell Hill |
| Harrow | 53 | 6% | 6% | 4.2 | 34.7% | 208 | Care in Harrow |
| Hartlepool | 27 | 3.7% | 0% | 3.6 | 4% | 375 | Care in Hartlepool |
| Havering | 60 | 7.7% | 1.9% | 3.6 | 32.1% | 253 | Care in Hornchurch |
| Herefordshire | 86 | 15.9% | 6.1% | 5.4 | 51.9% | 291 | Care in Herefordshire |
| Hertfordshire | 257 | 23.4% | 4.1% | 4.6 | 47.1% | 288 | Care in Hertfordshire |
| Hillingdon | 48 | 8.9% | 0% | 1.7 | 6.7% | 248 | Care in Uxbridge |
| Hounslow | 32 | 7.1% | 10.7% | 2.9 | 3.4% | 147 | Care in Chiswick |
| Hull | 78 | 28.6% | 0% | 4.1 | 35.7% | 422 | Care in Hull |
| Isle of Wight | 62 | 26.7% | 3.3% | 4.5 | 35% | 305 | Care in Isle of Wight |
| Isles of Scilly* | 2 | 100% | 0% | 3.6 | 0% | 245 | |
| Islington* | 18 | 0% | 6.7% | 4.5 | 33.3% | 306 | Care in Highgate |
| Kensington and Chelsea* | 11 | 11.1% | 11.1% | 1.1 | 10% | 140 | Care in Chelsea |
| Kent | 500 | 20.8% | 3.7% | 4.4 | 42.7% | 309 | Care in Kent |
| Kingston upon Thames | 44 | 8.3% | 11.1% | 2.1 | 8.1% | 402 | Care in Kingston |
| Kirklees | 127 | 22.8% | 2.4% | 3.7 | 34.4% | 301 | Care in Huddersfield |
| Knowsley | 27 | 21.7% | 4.3% | 3.2 | 17.4% | 302 | Care in Liverpool |
| Lambeth | 35 | 24.2% | 3% | 4.0 | 27.3% | 177 | Care in Lambeth |
| Lancashire | 423 | 16.9% | 3.6% | 4.5 | 34.8% | 362 | Care in Lancashire |
| Leeds | 160 | 20.9% | 2.9% | 3.5 | 32.9% | 320 | Care in Leeds |
| Leicester | 103 | 20.4% | 1.1% | 3.2 | 27.7% | 463 | Care in Leicester |
| Leicestershire | 163 | 18.7% | 2% | 3.6 | 27% | 242 | Care in Leicestershire |
| Lewisham | 49 | 4.3% | 0% | 4.9 | 47.8% | 175 | Care in Catford |
| Lincolnshire | 284 | 22.2% | 6.5% | 3.9 | 35.1% | 343 | Care in Lincolnshire |
| Liverpool | 86 | 33.3% | 3.8% | 3.0 | 27.5% | 364 | Care in Liverpool |
| Luton | 35 | 27.3% | 6.1% | 3.0 | 30.3% | 231 | Care in Luton |
| Manchester | 86 | 16.7% | 4.2% | 4.1 | 29.2% | 341 | Care in Manchester |
| Medway | 65 | 31.7% | 0% | 4.0 | 41.7% | 257 | Care in Gillingham |
| Merton | 35 | 0% | 2.9% | 3.1 | 8.6% | 202 | Care in Morden |
| Middlesbrough | 48 | 4.7% | 4.7% | 4.0 | 34.9% | 458 | Care in Middlesbrough |
| Milton Keynes | 49 | 15.9% | 6.8% | 4.0 | 29.5% | 310 | Care in Milton Keynes |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 74 | 11.1% | 9.5% | 2.8 | 18.6% | 375 | Care in Newcastle |
| Newham | 23 | 4.8% | 4.8% | 3.1 | 4.5% | 176 | Care in Stratford |
| Norfolk | 320 | 34.4% | 6.1% | 4.5 | 42.4% | 288 | Care in Norfolk |
| North East Lincolnshire | 56 | 14% | 10% | 4.5 | 47.1% | 374 | Care in Grimsby |
| North Lincolnshire | 59 | 19.6% | 10.7% | 4.3 | 43.9% | 336 | Care in Scunthorpe |
| North Northamptonshire | 113 | 17% | 6.6% | 3.5 | 19.8% | 370 | Care in Kettering |
| North Somerset | 96 | 3.4% | 0% | 3.8 | 28.3% | 342 | Care in Weston Super Mare |
| North Tyneside | 43 | 10% | 10% | 3.7 | 29.3% | 289 | Care in Whitley Bay |
| North Yorkshire | 204 | 13.7% | 3.7% | 4.5 | 38.3% | 301 | Care in North Yorkshire |
| Northumberland | 95 | 10.9% | 4.3% | 3.2 | 21.7% | 305 | Care in Northumberland |
| Nottingham | 78 | 23.3% | 11% | 3.3 | 30.1% | 371 | Care in Nottingham |
| Nottinghamshire | 285 | 16.2% | 9.3% | 3.9 | 31.8% | 342 | Care in Nottinghamshire |
| Oldham | 46 | 16.7% | 0% | 3.9 | 21.4% | 338 | Care in Oldham |
| Oxfordshire | 150 | 11.6% | 10.1% | 4.8 | 47.3% | 326 | Care in Oxfordshire |
| Peterborough | 38 | 12.1% | 6.1% | 4.6 | 45.5% | 340 | Care in Peterborough |
| Plymouth | 88 | 20.2% | 11.9% | 4.2 | 38.8% | 303 | Care in Plymouth |
| Portsmouth | 31 | 29% | 0% | 4.5 | 45.2% | 203 | Care in Portsmouth |
| Reading | 32 | 27.6% | 6.9% | 5.5 | 62.1% | 283 | Care in Reading |
| Redbridge | 78 | 12.5% | 0% | 3.7 | 29.2% | 220 | Care in Ilford |
| Redcar and Cleveland | 44 | 14.6% | 0% | 4.4 | 28.6% | 278 | Care in Redcar |
| Richmond upon Thames | 42 | 5% | 2.5% | 3.6 | 5% | 194 | Care in Twickenham |
| Rochdale | 61 | 35.2% | 1.9% | 3.5 | 22.6% | 373 | Care in Rochdale |
| Rotherham | 84 | 11.7% | 7.8% | 1.8 | 16.5% | 348 | Care in Rotherham |
| Rutland* | 11 | 18.2% | 9.1% | 2.0 | 18.2% | 269 | Care in Rutland |
| Salford | 44 | 20% | 0% | 3.7 | 32.5% | 316 | Care in Salford |
| Sandwell | 94 | 29.1% | 0% | 5.4 | 51.9% | 295 | Care in Sandwell |
| Sefton | 111 | 20.6% | 2.8% | 4.5 | 38.9% | 324 | Care in Southport |
| Sheffield | 114 | 14% | 3.7% | 3.1 | 26.2% | 277 | Care in Sheffield |
| Shropshire | 117 | 19.2% | 4.8% | 4.5 | 48.6% | 285 | Care in Shropshire |
| Slough* | 16 | 42.9% | 0% | 3.4 | 50% | 282 | Care in Slough |
| Solihull | 63 | 11.7% | 1.7% | 5.1 | 50% | 301 | Care in Solihull |
| Somerset | 197 | 10.4% | 4.9% | 3.5 | 27.3% | 283 | Care in Somerset |
| South Gloucestershire | 82 | 4.1% | 14.9% | 3.9 | 38.7% | 276 | Care in Kingswood |
| South Tyneside | 34 | 3.2% | 3.2% | 4.0 | 32.3% | 311 | Care in South Shields |
| Southampton | 52 | 14.6% | 2.1% | 3.6 | 34.7% | 323 | Care in Southampton |
| Southend-on-Sea | 85 | 9% | 2.6% | 2.4 | 21.8% | 324 | Care in Southend on Sea |
| Southwark* | 13 | 23.1% | 0% | 3.1 | 18.2% | 157 | Care in Bermondsey |
| St. Helens | 41 | 11.1% | 2.8% | 4.5 | 44.4% | 244 | Care in St Helens |
| Staffordshire | 273 | 22.3% | 3.4% | 4.6 | 44.1% | 309 | Care in Staffordshire |
| Stockport | 67 | 26.2% | 1.6% | 3.2 | 27.9% | 282 | Care in Stockport |
| Stockton-on-Tees | 60 | 9.6% | 5.8% | 3.5 | 21.2% | 397 | Care in Stockton on Tees |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 84 | 19.5% | 3.9% | 5.3 | 55.8% | 436 | Care in Stoke on Trent |
| Suffolk | 196 | 17.6% | 12.4% | 3.7 | 27.7% | 289 | Care in Suffolk |
| Sunderland | 87 | 4.6% | 8% | 3.8 | 32.1% | 337 | Care in Sunderland |
| Surrey | 392 | 18.2% | 4% | 3.8 | 31.5% | 377 | Care in Surrey |
| Sutton | 69 | 6.2% | 3.1% | 2.9 | 7.7% | 251 | Care in Sutton |
| Swindon | 46 | 9.3% | 11.6% | 1.7 | 27.3% | 210 | Care in Swindon |
| Tameside | 35 | 28.6% | 0% | 2.9 | 20.6% | 292 | Care in Ashton under Lyne |
| Telford and Wrekin | 39 | 20% | 0% | 5.2 | 51.4% | 301 | Care in Telford |
| Thurrock | 26 | 8% | 4% | 5.3 | 56% | 200 | Care in Grays |
| Torbay | 74 | 18.8% | 2.9% | 3.5 | 25.7% | 340 | Care in Torquay |
| Tower Hamlets* | 10 | 10% | 0% | 4.4 | 10% | 181 | Care in Bow |
| Trafford | 56 | 13.7% | 13.7% | 3.5 | 22.4% | 248 | Care in Altrincham |
| Wakefield | 97 | 28.1% | 2.2% | 3.8 | 24.7% | 332 | Care in Wakefield |
| Walsall | 71 | 30.5% | 3.4% | 2.7 | 16.9% | 265 | Care in Walsall |
| Waltham Forest | 46 | 4.7% | 2.3% | 3.5 | 36.4% | 191 | Care in Leyton |
| Wandsworth | 26 | 7.7% | 7.7% | 3.3 | 7.7% | 254 | Care in Wandsworth |
| Warrington | 56 | 19.2% | 3.8% | 4.5 | 38.5% | 347 | Care in Warrington |
| Warwickshire | 172 | 18.5% | 2.5% | 3.2 | 18.5% | 311 | Care in Warwickshire |
| West Berkshire | 45 | 10% | 2.5% | 6.4 | 65% | 247 | Care in Newbury |
| West Northamptonshire | 107 | 29.9% | 11.3% | 3.0 | 21.6% | 333 | Care in Northampton |
| West Sussex | 342 | 16.4% | 3.5% | 3.8 | 31.1% | 318 | Care in West Sussex |
| Westminster* | 9 | 0% | 0% | 1.0 | 14.3% | 137 | Care in Westminster |
| Westmorland and Furness | 59 | 11.1% | 3.7% | 4.6 | 41.8% | 213 | Care in Kendal |
| Wigan | 59 | 7.5% | 7.5% | 4.2 | 37.7% | 306 | Care in Wigan |
| Wiltshire | 163 | 10.3% | 1.9% | 3.7 | 31.8% | 277 | Care in Wiltshire |
| Windsor and Maidenhead | 43 | 28.2% | 12.8% | 4.5 | 48.7% | 398 | Care in Maidenhead |
| Wirral | 112 | 29.1% | 0% | 3.7 | 29.1% | 304 | Care in Wirral |
| Wokingham | 45 | 7% | 11.6% | 5.8 | 65.1% | 252 | Care in Wokingham |
| Wolverhampton | 74 | 34.3% | 6% | 2.6 | 26.5% | 338 | Care in Wolverhampton |
| Worcestershire | 180 | 16% | 4.3% | 3.6 | 36.6% | 315 | Care in Worcestershire |
| York | 42 | 14.7% | 5.9% | 3.9 | 31.4% | 311 | Care in York |
* Fewer than 20 rated care homes, so not ranked.
Why this matters to families
A CQC rating is usually the first thing a family looks at when choosing a care home, and often the only independent evidence they have. But a rating describes a home on the day it was assessed. Managers leave, owners change and staff turn over, so a rating published several years ago can describe a very different home from the one a parent would move into today.
Where you live makes a real difference too. In some council areas almost every home is rated Good or Outstanding; in others a much larger share is rated Requires improvement or Inadequate. Families searching in those areas have fewer good options close to home, and more reason to look carefully at each one.
How to use a CQC rating when choosing a care home
- Read the report, not just the rating. Every home's page on the CQC website links to the full inspection report. The five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led) often tell you more than the overall rating does.
- Check the date. Note when the rating was published and when CQC last checked the home. If it was years ago, ask the home what has changed since: the registered manager, the owner, staffing levels.
- Ask about Requires improvement. A home rated Requires improvement may have fixed the problem already, or may not. Ask to see its action plan, and what CQC said it needed to do.
- Visit more than once. Go at different times of day, including a mealtime, and talk to residents and their families if you can.
- Ask the council. The council's adult social care team knows its local homes and can tell you about funding and assessments, whoever pays.
A care home is not the only option. Many people who need help around the clock can stay in their own home with a live-in carer, and families weighing up the two can find a side-by-side comparison in our guide to choosing live-in care.
Methodology
Source. The Care Quality Commission's care directory and latest ratings files, published monthly under the Open Government Licence. Every figure on this page comes from those files; nothing is estimated, weighted or carried forward from older data. Contains CQC data © Care Quality Commission.
Care homes. Every location in England registered by CQC with a service type of Residential homes or Nursing homes, whether or not it has been rated yet. Homes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regulated by the Care Inspectorate, Care Inspectorate Wales and RQIA, which assess homes differently, and are not included.
Rated. Homes with a current overall rating of Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate. Homes not yet rated, or rated “insufficient evidence to rate”, count towards the number of homes but are left out of every percentage.
Below Good. The share of rated homes whose current overall rating is Requires improvement or Inadequate. The bed-weighted figure uses each home's registered bed capacity, so a 90-bed home counts for more than a 10-bed one.
Time since last check. Measured from CQC's “date of latest check” for each home to the date the data was produced. Homes with no recorded check (most of them newly registered) are left out of these figures. A check is not always a full re-rating, so the rating a home shows is often older than its latest check.
Care home places. Registered beds in care homes that CQC lists as caring for adults over 65, divided by the number of people aged 85 and over in the council area, from the Office for National Statistics mid-year population estimates (published under the Open Government Licence). Homes only for younger adults are left out. People often move to a care home in a neighbouring council area, so this measures places nearby, not access.
Council. CQC's “local authority” field: the council responsible for adult social care at the home's address. Councils with fewer rated homes than the threshold shown are listed in the full table but not ranked, because a percentage of a handful of homes says little.
Updates. The table is rebuilt when CQC publishes new monthly data. The date of the data used is shown at the top of the page and in the download.
Using this data
The full table is free to download and reuse: care home ratings by council (CSV). Please credit “Live-in Care Direct analysis of CQC data” and link to this page. For a link straight to one council's row, add its name to the address, for example #coventry.
Journalists can ask for comment, a local breakdown or the underlying figures through our press office.
Live-in Care Direct arranges live-in care in people's own homes. This analysis was produced by our team from CQC's public data. It is not a ranking of individual care homes, and no care home or council paid for, reviewed or contributed to it.
About this research
Questions about care home ratings
What the ratings mean, and how to use them when choosing a home.
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Our care managers answer these every day. A no-obligation call takes about ten minutes.
0800 368 8558Lines open 8am–10pm, seven days a weekWhat do the CQC ratings mean?
CQC rates care homes in England as Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate. It looks at five key questions (whether a home is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led) and gives an overall rating. Requires improvement means the home is not performing as well as it should; Inadequate means it is performing badly; CQC usually places the home in special measures, monitors it closely and inspects again to check that it has improved.
Why are some care home ratings so old?
CQC decides when to inspect based on risk, so homes rated Good or Outstanding can go several years between full inspections. An independent review of CQC published in 2024 (the Dash review) found that inspections had fallen sharply since 2019 and that some ratings were years old. CQC also monitors homes between inspections, but a new rating is published only after an assessment.
Why do some councils have so few care home places?
Property costs and where care home operators choose to open can both affect how many places an area has. Many people, particularly in London, move to a care home in a neighbouring council area, so a low figure means fewer places nearby rather than none at all. For people who want to stay where they live, care at home, including live-in care, is the main alternative.
Does a rating below Good mean a care home is unsafe?
Not necessarily. Requires improvement covers a wide range, from paperwork problems to more serious concerns, and the home may already have put things right. Read the full report on the CQC website to see what was found, and ask the home what it has done since.
Can I use these figures in an article?
Yes. The full table is free to download as a CSV. Please credit "Live-in Care Direct analysis of CQC data" and link to this page. Journalists can contact our press office for comment or a local breakdown.
Where can I check a specific care home?
Search for the home on the CQC website, cqc.org.uk, which shows its current rating, the date of its latest inspection and the full report. Our care homes directory also shows each home's latest CQC rating with a link to its CQC page.
Why are Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland not included?
Care homes there are regulated by different bodies that judge them differently: the Care Inspectorate in Scotland awards grades from 1 to 6, Care Inspectorate Wales has rated four themes since April 2025 with no overall rating, and RQIA in Northern Ireland publishes inspection reports without ratings. Putting them in one table would compare things that are not alike.