Number of Care Home Residents Increased says ONS

The number of residents in care homes has increased by 3% according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, with almost four in 10 care home residents are self funding their stay, an increase of almost 10%.

ONS figures reveal that from 1 March 2022 to 28 February 2023, there was a statistically significant 3.1% increase in the number of care home residents (372,035); of these, 37.0% (137,480) were self-funders, which is not a significant change since last year.

The South East remained the region with the highest proportion of self-funders in care homes (47.5%), which is statistically significantly higher than the North East, which had the lowest proportion of self-funders (26.4%).

Care homes providing care for older people remained the care homes with the highest proportion of self-funders (48.9%), which was statistically significantly higher than all other care home types; care homes for younger adults remained the lowest (2.0%).

Smaller care homes, with 1 to 19 beds, remained the care homes with the lowest proportion of self-funders (12.0%), which is statistically significantly lower than all other care home sizes.

Of care homes with ratings, care homes rated outstanding remained the care homes with the highest proportion of self-funders (50.9%), which was statistically significantly higher than care homes rated inadequate, which remained the lowest (24.0%).