What Care Costs

Independent · CQC-checked · no commission

Know what a care home should cost

Compare what your council pays with what families are quoted, and browse every CQC-registered care home in 50 areas of England.

✓ Every home on the CQC register, not just paying ones ✓ No commission when you choose

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 register4,690for older people, England
Beds between them179,406across 50 councils
Commission we take£0wherever you go

Where a council publishes its own rate, you will see it on every home in that area with its date and source — 10 of the 50 areas we cover so far, with the rest requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Where we do not have a figure we can stand behind, the page says so rather than guessing. How we source our numbers.

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 4.2 years old — and 2,994 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. See the full research →
3,580 rated Good or Outstanding 250 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 Nottinghamshire 205 homes · 8,274 beds Lincolnshire 214 homes · 8,179 beds Staffordshire 199 homes · 7,929 beds Devon 241 homes · 7,757 beds

See all 50 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