How we rank care homes
All the ratings on this site come from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We don't add scores, reviews or paid listings of our own.
The data
CQC publishes the register of care homes in England, with the latest rating for each, every month. This version of the site uses the files from 1 October 2026. It includes every active care home, with or without nursing. Registrations CQC lists as dormant are left out.
Why we don't give homes a score
There are 13,620 rated homes, but only 134 different combinations of ratings between them. 62% are Good in all five key questions. A score made from those ratings would give thousands of homes the same number, and it would look more precise than it is. CQC is also moving away from numerical scores in its own new framework.
Rating tiers
Instead we sort homes into tiers, using only their CQC ratings.
| Tier | Rule | Homes |
|---|---|---|
| Outstanding | Rated Outstanding overall | 621 |
| Good, with Outstanding areas | Good overall and Outstanding in at least one key question | 646 |
| Good | Good overall and in every key question | 8,506 |
| Good, with an area to improve | Good overall but Requires improvement or Inadequate in at least one key question | 1,461 |
| Requires improvement | Rated Requires improvement overall | 2,286 |
| Inadequate | Rated Inadequate overall | 100 |
| Not yet rated | Newly registered, or CQC has not yet published a rating | 751 |
A Good home with any key question rated Requires improvement or Inadequate goes below Good homes with none, even if it is Outstanding somewhere else. Within a tier, homes are listed A to Z. We don't rank them against each other because the ratings don't separate them.
On area and provider pages you can re-sort by name, size, date of rating or distance from a postcode. You can also filter by nursing care, who the home cares for, and tier.
Old ratings
39% of ratings are more than 5 years old. CQC decides when to re-inspect based on risk, so a home can keep the same rating for years through no fault of its own. We show the date of every rating and flag those over 5 years old. The age of a rating never changes a home's tier or its place in a list. More on rating age
What isn't covered
- Fees. CQC doesn't publish them, so ask each home.
- Reviews from residents or families.
- Home care agencies and supported living.
Updates and errors
We update the site when CQC publishes new data, normally once a month. Only CQC can change a rating. If you spot a mistake, see corrections. Check the latest report on the CQC website before making a decision.