In 2022, there were 408,371 people living in care homes in the United Kingdom. The population was higher in England than in any other part of the UK. In 2022, over 360 thousand people were living in care homes in England.

An estimation of the size of the self-funding population in care homes in England, using an experimental method. Weighted annual data broken down by geographic variables and care home characteristics.

Care home resident population in England and Wales using Census 2021 data.

In 2022, residential care in the United Kingdom was most expensive in the South East, Scotland, and London with weekly fees of over *** British pounds. Care homes vary in the type of services they offer to elderly people. Residential care homes, for instance, are suitable for adults who are mostly independent but could use some assistance in day to day living such as dressing, washing, doing laundry or taking medicine. Nursing homes, on the other hand, offer 24-hour medical supervision. An ageing population increases the importance of retirement living properties and services that suit the needs of residents.

The UK has an ageing population. For the Residential Nursing Care industry, this is an opportunity for growth, with demand for more beds expanding. Homes have upped their average weekly fees, contributing to revenue growth. Soaring inflation over the two years through 2023-24 has further raised nursing home fees. However, state involvement has limited growth, which has kept care fees artificially low for many nursing home residents. Residential nursing care revenue is anticipated to climb at a compound annual rate of 2.9% over the five years through 2025-26 to £10.3 billion, including a forecast hike of 1.2% in 2025-26. Weak government funding and wage cost pressures caused by the rising National Living Wage (which climbed to £12.21 in April 2025) have constrained profitability. Labour supply shortages caused by high turnover rates have been of particular concern. According to Skills For Care, the job vacancy rate in 2023-24 in the adult care sector was 8.3%, far above the average rate in the UK economy. That being said, the vacancy rate is declining, mainly thanks to a government-driven recruitment drive to attract overseas workers, which has been helped by reducing visa requirements. Climbing real household disposable income has supported more self-funded residents, aiding residential nursing care. However, data from the Office for National Statistics reveals the percentage of self-funded residents fell from 36.7% in 2019-20 to 34.9% over the year through February 2022. Families were struggling with the rising cost of living, reducing the number of people able to afford private care home costs, which constrained revenue growth. In the year through February 2023, the number of self-funded residents at nursing care homes climbed to 37% of the 372,035 residents. In the two years through 2025-26, interest rates have fallen, stimulating spending on discretionary services like residential nursing homes. Real disposable income is inching up in line with wage costs, which is raising demand for self-funded residents and lifting care homes’ revenue. Over the five years through 2030-31, residential nursing care revenue is estimated to expand at a compound annual rate of 2.3% to £11.5 billion. Robust demand from an ageing population will support industry growth. However, plans for adult social care reforms are to be released in two stages (the first in 2026 and the second in 2028), which has caused greater uncertainty for the sector's future. Staff shortage concerns will continue to plague nursing care.

From 2012 to 2023, the average number of residents in care homes operated by HC-One decreased in the UK. In 2023, HC-One cared for over ***** residents, whereas it cared for ** thousand from 2012 to 2014. Although the number of residents have decreased, HC-One remains one of the leading care home operators in the UK.

This metric is derived by the LGA (Local Government Association) from the CQC (Care Quality Commission's) Care Directory file. The file contains a complete list of the places in England where care is regulated by CQC. Using the National Statistics Postcode Lookup, we have counted the number of nursing homes located in an area and then created a crude rate per 1,000 resident population.

A care home is a place where personal care and accommodation are provided together. People may live in the service for short or long periods. For many people, it is their sole place of residence and so it becomes their home, although they do not legally own or rent it. Both the care that people receive and the premises are regulated.

In addition, qualified nursing care is provided to ensure that the full needs of the person using the service are met.

Examples of services that fit under this category:

Nursing home Convalescent home with nursing Respite care with nursing Mental health crisis house with nursing

Data is extracted once a quarter and provides a snapshot in time. It should be noted that due to changes to postcodes, a small proportion cannot be matched to the latest National Statistics Postcode Lookup file and are therefore excluded from these figures.

Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 4th of each month and shows MSOAs (Middle Layer Super Output Areas) at the 2021 Census Geography.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents aged 65 years and over living in a care home in England and Wales. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Retirement homes depend on self-funders or local council funding that covers the retirement needs of people who satisfy financial assessment means tests. Tightening government budgets have meant publicly funded fees have failed to cover providers’ operating costs, forcing retirement homes to cross-subsidise local authority beds with fees from self-funded residents. Revenue is anticipated to climb at a compound annual rate of 3.2% over the five years through 2025-26 to £12.0 billion, and it’s set to rise by 0.8% in 2025-26. Much of this is down to care homes' fees mounting to cover costs and being paid for by self-funders, who are saw their disposable income tick upwards in 2024-25, lifting industry revenue. Although the ageing population supports revenue growth, constrained government spending, delayed reform changes and rising costs (particularly for labour) have put pressure on profit. Demand for beds far outstrips the supply, which is driving investment into the industry. Mounting demand from residents who had delayed joining a retirement home during the pandemic contributed to strong growth in revenue in 2021-22. Care homes' fees then edged up in the three years through 2024-25 to cope with enhanced staffing costs, mounting mortgage payments and heightened energy costs – these were all the result of high inflation. This has been to the dismay of many retirees whose purse strings have tightened thanks to the cost-of-living crisis, making hit harder for them to afford to move into retirement homes. Higher fees have therefore dampened some of demand for beds, but they’ve also increased the sales value of care homes, supporting revenue. Retirement home revenue is expected to rise at a compound annual rate of 1.5% over the five years through 2030-31 to £12.9 billion, driven by an ageing population. By 2036, the number of people aged 85 and over will hit 2.6 million, representing 3.5% of the UK population, according to the Office for National Statistics. However, medical advances will make an older population healthier, allowing people to live independently for longer, dampening growth. Sustainable initiatives will be incorporated into the designs of new homes, helping reduce operational costs for retirement homes and supporting profitability. As real disposable income rises, there will be greater demand for luxury retirement homes, driving sales value and supporting industry revenue growth.

Demand for European residential care services is closely tied to demographic shifts, notably age shifts. As Europe grapples with an ageing population and people are living longer, demand for retirement homes and nursing care homes is climbing to cater to this growth. The industry is essential for providing care to older people, with nursing care offering clinical care through medical services, rehabilitation and personal care. Greater life expectancies across Europe are driving demand, as seniors require more specialised medical care and assistance that isn’t possible at home. Revenue is anticipated to grow at a compound annual rate of 1.2% over the five years through 2025. In several European countries, the residential care market is still relatively under-utilised compared to the size of the elderly population. In Southern Europe, notably Spain and Italy, households use retirement homes less because of a tradition of more family-based care. Revenue is projected to grow by 0.5% in 2025 to €159.6 billion. The strict regulatory environment that care services have to operate in makes it harder for new service providers to set up and therefore, it’s tricky for increased demand to translate to revenue growth. Looking forward, the ageing demographic isn’t showing signs of slowing, which will sustain demand for residential care services. Robust demand from an ageing population will continue to accelerate industry growth. Residential care providers will have to navigate more stringent regulations, which will be an additional hurdle for new providers. Revenue is expected to swell at a compound annual rate of 0.8% over the five years through 2030 to €166.4 billion. Profit is estimated to reach 3% in 2030.

The average number of years care home residents aged 65 years and over are expected to live beyond their current age in England and Wales. Classified as Experimental Statistics.

Number of council-supported permanent admissions of younger adults (aged 18-64) to residential and nursing care divided by the size of the younger adult population (aged 18-64) in the area multiplied by 100,000. People counted as a permanent admission include: Residents where the local authority makes any contribution to the costs of care, no matter how trivial the amount and irrespective of how the balance of these costs are metSupported residents in: Local authority-staffed care homes for residential careIndependent sector care homes for residential careRegistered care homes for nursing careResidential or nursing care which is of a permanent nature and where the intention is that the spell of care should not be ended by a set date. For people classified as permanent residents, the care home would be regarded as their normal place of residence. Where a person who is normally resident in a care home is temporarily absent at 31 March (e.g. through temporary hospitalisation) and the local authority is still providing financial support for that placement, the person should be included in the numerator. Trial periods in residential or nursing care homes where the intention is that the stay will become permanent should be counted as permanent. Whether a resident or admission is counted as permanent or temporary depends on the intention of the placement at the time of admission. The transition from ASC-CAR to SALT resulted in a change to which admissions were captured by this measure, and a change to the measure definition. 12-week disregards and full cost clients are now included, whereas previously they were excluded from the measure. Furthermore, whilst ASC-CAR recorded the number of people who were admitted to residential or nursing care during the year, the relevant SALT tables record the number of people for whom residential/nursing care was planned as a sequel to a request for support, a review, or short-term support to maximise independence Only covers people receiving partly or wholly supported care from their Local Authority and not wholly private, self-funded care. Data source: SALT.Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 3rd of each month.

This metric is derived by the LGA (Local Government Association) from the CQC (Care Quality Commission's) Care Directory file. The file contains a complete list of the places in England where care is regulated by CQC. Using the National Statistics Postcode Lookup, we have counted the number of nursing homes located in an area and then created a crude rate per 1,000 resident population.

A care home is a place where personal care and accommodation are provided together. People may live in the service for short or long periods. For many people, it is their sole place of residence and so it becomes their home, although they do not legally own or rent it. Both the care that people receive and the premises are regulated.

In addition, qualified nursing care is provided to ensure that the full needs of the person using the service are met.

Examples of services that fit under this category:

Nursing home Convalescent home with nursing Respite care with nursing Mental health crisis house with nursing

Data is extracted once a quarter and provides a snapshot in time. It should be noted that due to changes to postcodes, a small proportion cannot be matched to the latest National Statistics Postcode Lookup file and are therefore excluded from these figures. Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 3rd of each month.

Care homes including, name, number of rooms by type (nursing, nursing EMI, residential, residential EMI) address and location.

For more information about Care Homes see: https://www.calderdale.gov.uk/v2/residents/health-and-social-care/residential-and-nursing-care-page

Long-term support needs met by admission to residential and nursing care homes, per 100,000 population (younger adults) (New definition from 2015/16) - (Monthly Snapshot) *This indicator has been discontinued.

This report has information on residential and nursing care placements funded by councils. It shows how patterns of care differ by client group and by age. It reports on residential care funded by councils and delivered by both councils and the independent sector. This report includes analysis of the Public Service Agreement (PSA) target which relates to older people being supported intensively in their own home as an alternative to residential care. This information is also used by the Commission for Social Care Inspection to monitor the performance of social services across councils. If you need more specific breakdowns of the data, have queries or would like to cite information contained within the report, please contact us at enquiries@ic.nhs.uk or 0845 300 6016 ISBN Reference:978-1-84636-169-2 Additional information The council tables.xls contains the following: S1:Council Supported Residents at 31 March by type of accommodation and client group, 2003 to 2007 S2:Council Supported Residents Permanent and Temporary Admissions by type of accommodation and client group in 2006-07 S3:Council Supported Residents at 31 March 2007 by type of accommodation S4:Council Supported Residents in CSSR and registered staffed care homes at 31 March 2007 (excludes other accommodation and adult placements) S5:Council Supported Residents in PERMANENT Residential and Nursing care by age group and type of care S6:Council Supported Residents in TEMPORARY Residential and Nursing care by age group and type of care S7.1:Council Supported Admissions in PERMANENT residential and nursing care by client group and type of care S7.2:Council Supported Transfers from TEMPORARY to PERMANENT care by age group and type of care S7.3:Council Supported Transfers to PERMANENT Residential care from PERMANENT Nursing care and vice versa by age group and type of care S8:Council Supported Admissions in Temporary Residential and Nursing care by client group and type of care S9:Council Supported Admissions to Residential and Nursing care by type of stay, type of care and age S10:Residents supported outside the CSSR area at 31 March 2007 for all ages by type of care and client group S11:Number and admissions of Adult Placements P1: Comparison of PSA value1 on intensive home care as an alternative to residential accommodation 2005-06 to 2006-07. This publication has been revised on 12th June 2009 due to an error found in the calculations used to estimate data. Councils now have missing data where they have not been able to supply information and the England totals have been adjusted. This mainly affects Chapter 4 - Admissions and Transfers and Chapter 5 - Out of Area Placements.

In 2020, the share of daily nursing home costs that are handled by public authorities or insurances varies greatly from one European country to another. How European countries regulate nursing home costs depends on their public health expense policies. Long-term care is a significant part of a country’s healthcare expenditure. To a certain extent, health costs and medical expenses are financed by local authorities, national or regional health insurance, and national nursing care insurance. In Ireland, ** percent of the cost per day of a nursing home was borne by the financial support derived from the Fair Deal Scheme. In Czechia, only ** percent of the daily nursing home costs were supported by health insurance. The complex landscape of European nursing homes In 2020, the landscape of nursing homes in Europe was diverse with different shares of homes owned by public or private institutions. During that year, over ** percent of nursing homes were publicly owned in Norway and Denmark. Within privately owned homes, some were for-profit and others not. For instance, ** percent of nursing homes were owned by for-profit private companies in the UK, whereas ** percent of nursing homes were owned by the private non-profit sector in the Netherlands. Therefore, the share of nursing home beds managed by the public or private sector was also very different from one European country to another. The costs of nursing homes in Europe In 2019, the average daily cost of a care home could reach over *** euros in some European countries and less than ** euros in others. During that year, the average monthly cost of a care home amounted to **** euros in the United Kingdom and Germany. The cost of care homes is expected to increase as the need will escalate in Europe due to its aging population. Nonetheless, European health systems rely significantly on informal care, a potentially risky strategy.