Key statistics — headline numbers for journalists
Source: NHS England Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, 2024-25. Council-paid rates — self-funder rates are typically 20-40% higher.
Provider revenue benchmark
How care-cost data translates into ROI analysis
The TSA/PainChek citation used TreatCompare as a fee benchmark for care-provider financial-return analysis. The model below shows how the same weekly fee data can anchor turnover, occupancy and sensitivity estimates for a typical 100-bed care group.
| Care type | Council/week | Self-funder est. | 100-bed baseline | Mixed payer | 2% movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential care home | £1,196 | £1,555 | £5,535,088 | £6,368,128 | £110,702 |
| Nursing care home | £1,227 | £1,595 | £5,678,556 | £6,530,108 | £113,571 |
| Residential and nursing care | £1,227 | £1,595 | £5,678,556 | £6,530,108 | £113,571 |
| Short-term care | £56 | £73 | £259,168 | £300,820 | £5,183 |
Assumptions: 100 beds, 89% occupancy, self-funder estimate at 30% above council-paid rate. Figures are benchmarks for reporting and commercial modelling, not provider quotes.
Public-data overlay
Care home market pressure: fees x bed supply x occupancy
This ranking combines TreatCompare's ASC-FR weekly residential care cost benchmark with CQC active care-home bed supply. Where Capacity Tracker local-authority occupancy rows are available, occupancy and admittable vacancy rates are added as a pressure layer. Latest Capacity Tracker snapshot: 14 May 2026.
| LA | Pressure score | 1pp occupancy value | Active beds | Beds / 100 aged 75+ | Occupancy | Admittable vacancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westmorland and Furness North West | 94/100 | £2,733,215 | 1,931 | 6.2 | 89.6% | 4.5% |
| Hounslow London | 92/100 | £751,507 | 885 | 5.7 | 94.4% | 4.8% |
| Cornwall South West | 89/100 | £4,116,306 | 4,818 | 6.3 | 89.4% | 6.5% |
| Dorset South West | 89/100 | £3,834,386 | 4,166 | 6.6 | 83.8% | 14.6% |
| Greenwich London | 88/100 | £929,094 | 957 | 7.4 | 92.4% | 6.7% |
| Westminster London | 86/100 | £403,732 | 488 | 4.3 | 76.9% | 19.8% |
| West Berkshire South East | 85/100 | £1,043,297 | 1,190 | 7.1 | 81.7% | 12.3% |
| Merton London | 83/100 | £819,711 | 984 | 7.5 | 88.3% | 4.7% |
| Tower Hamlets London | 83/100 | £284,755 | 387 | 4.8 | 93.3% | 3.7% |
| Cumberland North West | 82/100 | £1,922,079 | 2,335 | 7.2 | 85.0% | 9.1% |
| Rutland East Midlands | 82/100 | £378,179 | 452 | 7.7 | 88.6% | 9.7% |
| Kensington and Chelsea London | 82/100 | £327,572 | 443 | 4.3 | 84.5% | 8.2% |
Pressure score blends high weekly fees, low beds per 100 residents aged 75+ and, where available, high occupancy or low admittable vacancy. 1pp occupancy value is the annual revenue value of moving one percentage point of registered beds from empty to occupied at the local residential council-rate benchmark.
Data angles — story hooks for journalists
1. The postcode lottery of care
Residential care costs range from £874/week in Halton to £3,501/week in Bedford — a 301% gap for the same regulated service. Where you live determines what you pay.
2. Self-funders subsidise council residents
The same care home bed costs self-funders 20-40% more than the council-paid rate. Providers use the higher private fees to cross-subsidise below-cost council placements — meaning those who have saved responsibly pay more for the same care.
3. The £23,250 trap
The means test threshold has been frozen at £23,250 since 2010 — in real terms, it has fallen by approximately 35% due to cumulative inflation. In 2010 prices, £23,250 would be worth around £15,100 today. The Conservative government's October 2025 reform was cancelled.
4. Short-term care costs more than long-term
Respite and post-hospital placements cost £56/week vs £1,196/week for permanent residential care. Short-term placements carry a premium because providers cannot fill beds predictably.
5. Regional divide
London care costs an average of £1,400/week vs £1,301/week in the North East — reflecting housing, labour, and property cost differentials that feed directly into care home fee structures.
Regional breakdown — residential care
Average council-paid residential care cost by English region, 2024-25.
| Region | Avg cost/week | LAs with data |
|---|---|---|
| East of EnglandMost expensive | £1,557 | 11 |
| South West England | £1,534 | 14 |
| South East England | £1,436 | 19 |
| Yorkshire & The Humber | £1,407 | 15 |
| London | £1,400 | 33 |
| West Midlands | £1,382 | 14 |
| East Midlands | £1,375 | 10 |
| North West England | £1,332 | 24 |
| North East EnglandLower-cost | £1,301 | 12 |
Averages computed from council-paid rates across local authorities with ASC-FR data for residential care (2024-25).
Top 10 lower-cost and most expensive councils — residential care
10 lower-cost council areas
| # | Council | Cost/week |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Halton | £874 |
| 2 | North Lincolnshire | £885 |
| 3 | Wirral | £886 |
| 4 | Blackpool | £967 |
| 5 | Darlington | £1,000 |
| 6 | Sefton | £1,039 |
| 7 | Portsmouth | £1,067 |
| 8 | South Tyneside | £1,067 |
| 9 | Lincolnshire | £1,075 |
| 10 | Manchester | £1,078 |
10 most expensive council areas
| # | Council | Cost/week |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bedford | £3,501 |
| 2 | Westmorland and Furness | £2,722 |
| 3 | North Yorkshire | £2,419 |
| 4 | Devon | £2,211 |
| 5 | Gateshead | £1,951 |
| 6 | Wandsworth | £1,918 |
| 7 | Greenwich | £1,867 |
| 8 | South Gloucestershire | £1,855 |
| 9 | Solihull | £1,837 |
| 10 | Buckinghamshire | £1,804 |
National median costs — all care types
Source: NHS England ASC-FR, 2024-25. Last updated 2026-07-06.
Download the data
Data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Free to use with attribution to NHS England ASC-FR and TreatCompare.
Data citation
Used in sector analysis of care provider ROI
TreatCompare's care cost data has been cited by TSA, the UK voice of technology enabled care, in member coverage of PainChek's AI-powered pain assessment ROI research. The citation used TreatCompare as one benchmark source for care home fee and revenue context.
This makes the dataset useful for reporting on healthtech ROI, occupancy stability, avoidable discharge, self-funder economics and the financial impact of social care technology adoption.
Read the TSA citationSuggested attribution
Methodology
Source: NHS England Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report (ASC-FR), 2024-25.
Coverage: 152 upper-tier local authorities in England.
Refresh: Annual (October, when NHS England publishes the ASC-FR data pack).
What is measured: Unit costs (per week) paid by local authorities to care providers. These are the council-paid rates — the price each LA pays for a care home placement for its funded residents.
What is NOT measured: Private self-funder rates. Self-funders typically pay 20-40% more than the council-paid rate. The self-funder figures on this page are estimated at council rate + 30%.
Market pressure overlay: The local-authority pressure table joins ASC-FR weekly residential care costs to CQC active care-home bed supply and ONS age denominators. The pressure score blends high local fee level, low beds per 100 residents aged 75+ and, where available, Capacity Tracker occupancy or admittable vacancy. Capacity Tracker is response-based, so it is shown as a pressure layer, not as the definitive stock measure.
Limitation: These are council-paid rates, not what self-funders pay. The actual premium varies by provider, location, and room type. ASC-FR data covers council-commissioned placements only.
TreatCompare ingests NHS England's annual ASC-FR data, joins each per-local-authority unit cost record with static LA metadata, and renders 4 service-category pages across 152 local authorities. Full methodology at /methodology#care-costs.
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