Care Home Occupancy Edges Above 86% as Sector Demonstrates Resilience, Government Data Reveals
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has released its quarterly update to May 2026 on adult social care provider statistics in England, painting a broadly positive picture of capacity, access and workforce health across residential and nursing care homes.
The bulletin, published on 4 June 2026 and drawing on self-reported data collected through the NHS Capacity Tracker, covers the week ending 14 May 2026. It represents one of the most comprehensive regular snapshots of the operational state of England’s care sector, encompassing occupancy, visitor access, COVID-19 staff absence, flu vaccination uptake and the ongoing rollout of digital social care records (DSCRs).
Overall care home bed occupancy stood at 86.1% as of the week ending 14 May 2026, marginally above the 12-month average of 86.0%. Of the remaining beds, 10.8% were recorded as vacant and admittable — meaning immediately available for new admissions — while 3.1% were vacant but non-admittable, reflecting beds held in reserve or otherwise unavailable.
Occupancy rates have remained broadly stable throughout the 12 months to May 2026, with the data showing a slight dip through the winter months before recovering to slightly above average in May. Providers and commissioners will take reassurance from the consistency of these figures, which suggest demand for residential and nursing care beds continues to be robustly met.
There was notable regional variation, however. London recorded the highest occupancy rate at 90.6%, reflecting the capital’s high population density and demand pressures, while the East Midlands reported the lowest at 82.5%. The proportion of vacant and admittable beds mirrored this pattern inversely, ranging from 6.9% in London to 14.2% in the East Midlands.
Breaking down occupancy by care type, specialist and other beds showed the highest occupancy at 86.8%, followed by non-specialist nursing beds at 86.3% and non-specialist residential beds at 85.8% — differences that are modest but may reflect underlying variation in demand and placement patterns across different care categories.
As of the week ending 14 May 2026, there were 359,215 residents recorded across the 93.0% of care home providers that responded to the Capacity Tracker, representing a high and stable response rate that lends confidence to the figures.
The vast majority of these — 333,590 — were in older adult care homes (those serving residents aged 65 and above), with 25,625 in younger adult care homes. These figures provide a robust basis for workforce planning, local authority commissioning decisions and capacity management across the sector.
In domiciliary care, 499,364 people were recorded as receiving CQC-regulated home care services, from the 83.7% of domiciliary care providers that responded — highlighting the sheer scale of community-based support running alongside the residential care sector.
Visiting access has remained near-universal, with 99.3% of care homes in England able to accommodate residents receiving visitors as of the week ending 14 May 2026. This figure has remained stable since September 2022 and has fluctuated only between 99.3% and 99.5% throughout the 12 months to May 2026 — a testament to the sector’s commitment to maintaining meaningful family contact.
Regional figures show very little divergence, ranging from 99.1% in the North East to 99.5% in the East of England — a consistently strong performance that reflects the normalisation of visiting across the sector in the post-pandemic period.
Staff absences due to COVID-19-related reasons remained at a minimal level, with just 0.1% of care home staff and 0.1% of domiciliary care staff absent for COVID-related reasons in the week ending 14 May 2026. These figures have been stable since April 2024 for care home staff and since September 2024 for domiciliary care staff, following a sustained decline from peaks of around 0.6–0.9% seen in 2022.
The data shows negligible regional variation, with most regions reporting rates of between 0.0% and 0.1% in both care settings. Absence rates in domiciliary care are not directly comparable with those in residential settings due to differences in workforce and reporting structures, the DHSC notes.
The bulletin presents final figures for the 2025 to 2026 seasonal flu vaccination campaign, with data collection having ceased on 29 April 2026. Across all care home providers, 65.8% of total residents and 11.2% of total staff are recorded as having received a flu vaccination for the season — though it should be noted that these figures represent only those for whom a vaccination record was logged via Capacity Tracker.
Among older adult care home providers (where 99.2% had updated their vaccination data), the picture is encouraging for residents: 66.6% of residents had received the flu vaccine by 14 April 2026, up from 34.2% in October 2025. For staff in the same settings, however, the figure was considerably lower at 11.4%, raising questions that the sector may wish to address regarding the promotion and facilitation of staff vaccination.
In younger adult care homes — where residents may face different health vulnerabilities — 55.6% of residents and 9.8% of staff were recorded as vaccinated. Among domiciliary care providers, 15.3% of staff had received the flu vaccine, which is marginally higher than the residential care staff average but remains low in absolute terms.
The DHSC emphasises that flu vaccination data is self-reported and may not fully reflect actual vaccination rates — those providers who have not updated Capacity Tracker since 1 September 2025 are excluded from the figures.
Progress on the digitisation of care records continues at pace the data reveals.
As of March 2026, an estimated 83.7% of CQC-registered adult social care provider locations are using a digital social care record (DSCR) — up from 76.8% in March 2025, representing a significant year-on-year improvement.
When viewed through the lens of individuals in receipt of care, the penetration of digital records is even higher: 92.0% of people cared for by CQC-registered providers are now estimated to have a DSCR, compared to 85.7% a year earlier. This suggests that larger and more complex providers — who care for a greater number of people — have been among the earlier adopters.
An additional 8.5% of provider locations are currently in the process of implementing a DSCR, pointing towards continued growth in the months ahead. Since tracking began in February 2022, the trend in DSCR adoption has been consistently upward, and the government has set ambitious targets as part of its broader drive to transform the technological infrastructure of adult social care.
Key Statistics at a Glance
■ 86.1% of care home beds occupied (week ending 14 May 2026)
■ 359,215 residents in responding care homes
■ 499,364 people receiving CQC-regulated domiciliary care
■ 99.3% of care homes accommodating visitor access
■ 0.1% of care home staff absent due to COVID-19
■ 66.6% of older adult care home residents received flu vaccine (2025/26 season)
■ 83.7% of CQC-registered provider locations using a digital social care record
■ 92.0% of people in care estimated to have a digital social care record
