Charts

Commissioning and markets · Market shape

Welltower owns the buildings of homes run by four of the largest care operators

UK properties Welltower owns, by the operator that runs them, 30 June 2026 · 30 June 2026

Note: Welltower's own count at 30 June 2026: UK-wide and all property types, including leased homes, so not comparable with care home beds in England. Welltower owns the buildings; the operators run the homes. 54 of its 795 UK properties are run by other operators.

Commissioning and markets · Market shape

The ten largest care home operators run nearly one bed in five

Care home beds in England run by the ten largest operators · October 2026

Note: Counted under the operator that runs each home; a home registered twice is counted once. Do not add the bars up across groups: Welltower owns the buildings of many homes run by Care UK, Barchester and Avery, which count under those operators. The Welltower bar is the homes CQC registers under its Welltower brand: HC-One (7,474 beds; Welltower is reported to own HC-One), Ideal Carehomes and Welltower's own operating companies.

Regulation and quality · Ratings

Care homes in the North East are the most likely to be rated good or outstanding

Share of rated care homes rated good or outstanding, by region · October 2026

Note: CQC's current overall rating, which for some homes is several years old.

Commissioning and markets · Care home places

Councils run just 2% of England's care home beds

Share of care home beds in England, by who runs the home · October 2026

Note: Councils include the companies they own, as far as we have identified them (known data issue DI-003). A home registered twice is counted once.

Fees and funding · Home care fees

London councils pay the least for an hour of home care

Average hourly rate councils paid external providers for home care, by region · 2024 to 2025

Note: Home care bought from external providers. London councils pay the most for a care home place but the least for an hour of home care.

Workforce

More than a quarter of care staffing agencies are registered in London

Active care staffing agencies in England, by region of registered office · October 2026

Note: Active companies with an employment agency business code that also carry a health or social care code and care words in their name. Counted where the company is registered, which may be an accountant's address, not where its staff work.

Commissioning and markets · Care home places

London has the fewest care home beds for its oldest residents

Care home beds per 1,000 people aged 85 and over, by region · October 2026 (beds); mid-2025 (population)

Note: Every registered care home bed, including homes for younger adults, set against people aged 85 and over (ONS, mid-2025). A home registered twice is counted once.

Regulation and quality · Inspections

Care homes in the West Midlands and East of England are the most likely to have gone five years without an inspection

Share of care homes registered for more than five years that have not been inspected or assessed in the last five years, by region · October 2026

Note: Counted back five years from 13 October 2026. Homes registered in the last five years are left out, including homes that changed provider, because they cannot yet have gone five years without one. A home registered twice is counted once.

Policy and reform · Demand for care

Public concern about care for older people has fallen back from its 2017 peak

Share naming the ageing population or social care for older people as an important issue facing Britain, yearly average · 2012 to 2025

Note: Great Britain, not the UK. A yearly average of the months we hold: 2020 has 9 of 12, 2023 has 11, 2024 has 9 and 2025 has 9. 2020 averages two months before the pandemic, at about 10%, with seven during it. Ipsos has renamed this issue over time; the names are joined. Figures to 2017 from Ipsos's 2007-onwards trend page, later years from its 2018-onwards page and monthly releases.

Fees and funding · Council spending

North West councils spend nearly a fifth more per adult than London councils

Councils' gross current expenditure on adult social care per adult aged 18 and over, by region · 2024 to 2025

Note: DHSC's own figures: gross current expenditure per 100,000 adults aged 18 and over, shown per adult. England: £633. Spending per adult also reflects each region's age mix and level of need.

Commissioning and markets · Care home places

About one care home bed in ten is empty and ready for a resident

Care home beds in England, by whether occupied · Week ending 14 August 2026

Note: From the Capacity Tracker, which care homes update each month. CQC counts occupancy another way, so its figures differ; they are not combined here.

Workforce · Pay

The National Living Wage has gone up by more than half since 2019

National Living Wage, hourly rate (for workers aged 25 and over until March 2021, 23 and over until March 2024, 21 and over since) · April 2019 to April 2026

Note: The age the National Living Wage applies from fell over this period: 25 and over until March 2021, 23 and over until March 2024, then 21 and over.

Workforce · Vacancies

Adult social care's vacancy rate falls to its lowest since 2015/16

Vacancy rate, adult social care · 2015/16 to 2025/26

Workforce · International recruitment

Far fewer people are coming from abroad to work in care

People arriving in the UK and starting direct care roles, independent sector · 2020/21 to 2025/26

Workforce · Vacancies

Home care has more than twice the vacancy rate of care homes

Vacancy rate by main service, independent sector · 2025/26

Workforce · Turnover

Staff turnover at private and charity care providers keeps falling

Turnover rate, independent sector · 2019/20 to 2025/26

Fees and funding · Council spending

After inflation, councils are spending more on adult social care than at any point since 2008/09

Gross current expenditure on adult social care by local authorities · 2008/09 to 2024/25

Note: Real terms are adjusted for inflation to 2024 to 2025 prices, as DHSC publishes them.

Fees and funding · Care home fees

London councils pay nearly £300 a week more for a care home place than North East councils

Average weekly cost to councils of residential and nursing care, by region · 2024 to 2025

Policy and reform · Population

The number of people aged 85 and over is set to nearly double by 2047

People aged 85 and over, UK (2022-based national population projections) · Mid-2022 to mid-2047

Note: 2022 is an estimate and 2047 a projection based on past trends. ONS says projections are not forecasts.

Policy and reform · Unpaid care

Fewer people give unpaid care, but more give long hours

People aged 5 and over providing unpaid care, by hours a week (age-standardised) · 2011 and 2021

Note: Census 2021 asked the unpaid care question differently from 2011. ONS compares the two years only in these three broad bands.

Policy and reform · Unpaid care

People in Wales are more likely to be unpaid carers than in England

People aged 5 and over providing unpaid care (age-standardised) · 2021