What Care Costs

England · 2,290 registered care homes

Nobody tells you what a care home costs until you are already frightened.

So we went and got the numbers. What your council pays, what families pay, and how long ago each home was actually inspected — for every home on the register, not just the ones that pay to be listed.

Free, no sign-up, and no salesperson will ring you.

The hardest thing to find out is the one that matters most: what it will cost you. Homes rarely publish fees, and the price a council pays is not the price a family is quoted for the same room.

Homes on the register2,290for older people, England
Beds between them90,402across 8 councils
Council rates published0 of 8the rest are being requested

We are building this in the open. Where we have a council’s own published rate, you will see it with its date and source. Where we do not have it yet, we say so rather than guessing.

A “Good” rating may be older than you think

Care homes display their CQC rating proudly, and rightly so. What the badge never tells you is when it was earned. Across England the middle home’s rating is 4.6 years old — and 1,510 homes are working from a judgement made more than three years ago.

Managers move on. Owners sell up. Staff turn over. A rating from 2021 describes a home that may no longer exist in any meaningful sense — so on every page here we print the date beside the rating, and tell you plainly how old it is.
1,697 rated Good or Outstanding 119 carry no current rating at all

Why you can trust the order of the list

Most care directories are paid when you move in. That commission is worth thousands, and it is paid by the home — which means the list you are shown is not neutral, and the homes that refuse to pay are simply missing from it.

We take nothing when you choose a home. Every home on the CQC register appears here whether it has ever heard of us or not. Providers can pay a flat monthly fee to add photos and publish their prices — and that is all it buys them.

Start with your council

Care is arranged council by council, and so are the rates. These are the largest markets in England — or search above for anywhere else.

Kent 351 homes · 13,698 beds Hampshire 334 homes · 13,128 beds Lancashire 343 homes · 12,538 beds Surrey 286 homes · 11,728 beds Essex 285 homes · 11,628 beds West Sussex 268 homes · 9,777 beds Norfolk 247 homes · 8,966 beds Hertfordshire 176 homes · 8,939 beds

See all 8 councils →

Will the council pay?

Six questions and the current means test: the £23,250 threshold, tariff income, the 12-week property disregard and NHS-funded nursing care. It tells you what you would pay each week and what the council should cover. No sign-up, nothing sent anywhere.

Work out your contribution