Official Statistics

Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024

Published 4 April 2024

Applies to England

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About these statistics

This is a monthly publication by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) of official statistics on adult social care in England. Official statistics are produced in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and the Code of Practice for Statistics, and meet high standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value.

These statistics are assessed regularly and any improvements in quality are incorporated accordingly at the next available opportunity. The scope of the data included in this publication is also assessed to ensure the value of these statistics is maintained. Data collection may change in response to shifts in priorities, leading to corresponding adjustments in this bulletin’s reporting.

Introduction

This statistical bulletin provides an overview on a range of information on social care settings. We are transforming the content of the publication to capture a broader social care picture and to utilise new data as it becomes available. Details of new data and content can be found in the ‘Publication updates’ section, below.

This report provides information on:

• occupancy levels in care homes at national, regional and local authority level
• uptake of full primary course and autumn 2023 booster doses of COVID-19 vaccinations, and flu vaccinations for the 2023 to 2024 season, in adult social care settings at national, regional and local authority level
• visiting in care homes at national, regional and local authority level
• staff absence rates due to COVID-19 in care homes and domiciliary care at national, regional and local authority level
• estimates of digital social care record uptake

Data on occupancy and visiting in care homes, staff absence and vaccinations in this publication is taken from Capacity Tracker. Capacity Tracker is a web-based digital insight tool originally developed by NHS England and the Better Care Fund to enable the system to better manage hospital discharges by identifying available capacity in care homes. It enables care homes to share their vacancies in real time, meaning hospital discharge teams and other health professionals can rapidly search availability throughout England. Since spring 2020, the tool has also been used by DHSC to gather COVID-19-related data to help monitor the sector’s response to the pandemic.

Data on the estimated uptake of digital social care records (DSCRs) is obtained from the provider information return (PIR). The PIR is managed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Each adult social care provider, registered through CQC, is required to complete their return annually. This captures any changes that have been made to services and will consider how adult social care providers are ensuring their services are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. From December 2021, adult social care providers were also asked to capture whether a DSCR is in use within their care setting. The guidance on provider information returns for adult social care services was last updated in January 2024.

For more information on data sources, the data previously published as part of this report and other published sources of adult social care data, see the background quality and methodology for these statistics.

Publication updates

Updates to current report

As the seasonal COVID-19 booster vaccination campaign has ended, data collection on COVID-19 vaccination ceased on 29 February 2024. COVID-19 vaccination statistics no longer feature in the commentary of this bulletin but the full timeseries (up to 25 February 2024) is presented in the accompanying ‘COVID-19 and flu vaccination statistics, April 2024 data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page. These tables will be removed from May 2024 onwards, but historical data will remain available in prior editions of this publication.

Official statistics in development: digital social care records

Statistics on estimated uptake of DSCRs are published for the first time by DHSC in this report.

Official statistics in development: client level data

Statistics from client level data (CLD) were published for the first time in this report in March 2024 as official statistics in development and will be updated on a quarterly basis. For the latest CLD figures, see the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: March 2024 report.

Updates on future reports

The next publication will be released on 2 May 2024. Dates for future publications will be announced on the GOV.UK publication release calendar.

Main points

This section discusses the main points of interest from the data tables, available on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page. For further detailed analysis on this data, including regional and demographic breakdowns, see the ‘Further analysis’ section below.

Occupancy

As of the week ending 14 March 2024:

• 85.8% of beds in care homes were occupied
• 11.1% of beds in care homes were vacant and admittable
• 3.1% of beds in care homes were vacant and non-admittable

From February 2024 onwards, care home occupancy is calculated based on care homes which were active according to the most recent CQC registration data update in Capacity Tracker at the end of that month’s reporting window.

For more information, see the background quality and methodology for these statistics.

Flu vaccination in social care settings

As of the week ending 17 March 2024, the proportions who had received a flu vaccination for the 2023 to 2024 season were:

• 64.2% of total residents and 10.1% of total staff of older adult care homes
• 52.1% of total residents and 9.3% of total staff of younger adult care homes
• 10.0% of total domiciliary care staff

Figure 1: percentage of residents of older and younger adult care homes who have received their 2023 to 2024 flu vaccine, England, 24 September 2023 to 17 March 2024

Since the week ending 24 September 2023, reported 2023 to 2024 flu vaccination rates have increased steadily among residents of older and younger adult care homes. Flu vaccination rates are highest among residents in older adult care home settings.

Source: Capacity Tracker

This data can be found in tables 1 and 5 of the accompanying ‘COVID-19 and flu vaccination statistics, April 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page, in addition to data by region and local authority.

Figure 2: percentage of staff in older and younger adult care homes and domiciliary care who have received their 2023 to 2024 flu vaccine, England, 24 September 2023 to 17 March 2024

Since the week ending 24 September 2023, reported 2023 to 2024 flu vaccination rates have increased steadily among staff in older and younger adult care home and domiciliary care settings. Flu vaccination rates are highest among staff in older adult care home settings.

Source: Capacity Tracker

Notes:

• the timeseries for the proportion of domiciliary care staff who have received the flu vaccine begins on 1 October 2023. This is because the figure for the week ending 24 September 2023 has been suppressed to avoid identification
• the proportion of staff receiving flu vaccinations is much lower than the proportion of residents, so attention should be drawn to the y-axis scale

This data can be found in tables 2, 6 and 9 of the accompanying ‘COVID-19 and flu vaccination statistics, April 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page, in addition to data by region and local authority.

Visiting in care homes

In the week ending 14 March 2024, 99.8% of care homes in England were able to accommodate residents receiving visitors. This figure has been stable since September 2022.

Figure 3: percentage of care homes accommodating or limiting visits for residents, England, 4 January 2022 to 14 March 2024

The proportion of care homes accommodating visiting for residents has broadly increased since mid January 2022 with the exception of slight decreases in early April 2022 and early July 2022. This number has stabilised since September 2022.

Source: Capacity Tracker

Note: the dotted lines in this chart represent the implementation of the changes in care home visiting guidance or changes to the visiting question in Capacity Tracker:

• A: from 31 January 2022, no limits on the number of named visitors, with testing and guidance to support safe visiting in place
• B: from 4 April 2022, no restrictions on visitation in care homes. Every care home resident should have one visitor who can visit in all circumstances (including during periods of isolation and outbreak)
• C: from 4 July 2022, the visiting questions in Capacity Tracker changed so care homes were asked whether residents had been allowed visits in or out of the care home in the last month, instead of in the last 7 days
• D: from 31 July 2022, providers are mandated to submit data on visiting on a monthly basis. From August 2022 onwards, the data points in this graph are monthly instead of weekly

This data can be found in table 1 of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, April 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page, in addition to data by region and local authority.

Staff absences due to COVID-19

In the week ending 14 March 2024, 0.2% of care home staff and 0.3% of domiciliary care staff were absent due to COVID-19-related reasons.

These proportions stayed the same for care home staff and decreased for domiciliary care staff in the last month.

Figure 4: percentage of staff absent due to COVID-19-related reasons, England, 4 January 2022 to 14 March 2024

Since the peak of 2.9% in January 2022, there have been 2 further spikes in care home staff absence rates, in late March 2022 and mid July 2022. For domiciliary care absence, following a peak of 4.8% in January 2022, there have been a further 3 spikes, in late March 2022, mid July 2022 and mid October 2022.

From November 2022 to April 2023, absence rates due to COVID-19-related reasons remained broadly stable in both care homes and domiciliary care settings, and decreased between April and June 2023. Since June 2023, absence rates have remained the same among care home staff. Between June and October 2023, absence rates broadly increased among domiciliary care staff and decreased in November 2023. From November 2023 to February 2024, absence rates among domiciliary care staff remained the same, before decreasing slightly in March 2024.

Source: Capacity Tracker

Notes:

• the proportion of staff absent due to COVID-19-related reasons is not comparable across care settings
• the dotted line in these charts represents the move to monthly reporting after the start of the mandatory data provision implemented on 31 July 2022. From August 2022 onwards, the data points in these graphs are monthly instead of weekly

This data can be found in tables 2 and 3 of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, April 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page, in addition to data by region and local authority.

Official statistics in development: digital social care records

As of February 2024, 63% of adult social care providers are estimated to have a DSCR.

Further analysis

Occupancy in care homes

There was some regional variation in care home occupancy rates. As of the week ending 14 March 2024, the percentage of:

• beds occupied in care homes varied from 82.8% in the East Midlands to 88.1 % in London
• beds in care homes that were vacant and admittable varied from 8.7% in the North West to 14.3% in the East Midlands
• beds in care homes that were vacant and non-admittable varied from 2.3% in the West Midlands to 4.3% in Yorkshire and the Humber

Data on occupancy and response rates can be found in tables 4 and 8 of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, April 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page.

As noted above, from February 2024 onwards, care home occupancy is based on care homes which were active as of the most recent CQC registration data update in Capacity Tracker at the end of that month’s reporting window.

For more information, see the background quality and methodology for these statistics.

Flu vaccination in adult social care settings

The proportions of providers that have provided data on the number of staff or residents who received a flu vaccination for the 2023 to 2024 season, as of 17 March 2024 were:

• 99.4% of older adult care home providers
• 99.2% of younger adult care home providers
• 97.9% of domiciliary care providers

For full response rates, see the accompanying ‘COVID-19 and flu vaccination response rates, April 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page.

There is regional variation in reported flu vaccination uptake among each of the adult social care groups. The variation is most pronounced among residents of younger adult care homes with 45.0% uptake in the South East and 57.4% uptake in both the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber.

For more information, see the background quality and methodology for these statistics.

Accommodating COVID-safe visitation in care homes

In the week ending 14 March 2024, 99.8% of care homes in England were able to accommodate visits in or out of the care home for residents in all circumstances during the last month. This is the same as in the week ending 14 February 2024. This proportion has shown little variation since September 2022.

Regional variation has steadily decreased over the past year as more and more providers are able to accommodate visitation across all regions.

Since 31 July 2022, this question is part of the subset of data that providers are mandated to submit on a monthly basis. For more information, see the background quality and methodology for these statistics.

Adult social care workforce

In care homes

Absence rates in care homes stayed the same over the last month. In the week ending 14 March 2024, 0.2% of care home staff were absent due to COVID-19-related reasons.

Care home staff absence related to COVID-19 reached a peak of 2.9% in the week ending 11 January 2022 and has remained below 1.0% since August 2022.

In the week ending 14 March 2024, there was little regional variation, with COVID-19-related staff absence rates ranging between 0.1% and 0.2% across all regions. Since the week ending 14 February 2024, absence rates decreased from 0.2% to 0.1% in the East of England and the South West and increased from 0.1% to 0.2% in Yorkshire and the Humber. Absence rates remained the same in all other regions.

Data on absences and response rates can be found in tables 2 and 6, respectively, of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, April 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page.

In domiciliary care

Absence rates in domiciliary care settings are not directly comparable with those in residential care homes.

In the week ending 14 March 2024, 0.3% of domiciliary care staff were absent due to COVID-19 reasons. This figure has decreased since the week ending 14 February 2024, when 0.4% of domiciliary care staff were absent due to COVID-19 reasons.

In the week ending 14 March 2024, there was some regional variation, with regions reporting absence rates between 0.1% and 0.5%. Since the week ending 14 February 2024, absence rates decreased from 0.6% to 0.2% in the East Midlands, 0.3% to 0.1% in the North East, 0.4% to 0.3% in the South West and 0.7% to 0.5% in Yorkshire and the Humber. Absence rates increased from 0.2% to 0.3% in the North West and remained the same in all other regions.

Data on absences and response rates can be found in tables 3 and 7 of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, April 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page.

For more information, see the background quality and methodology for these statistics.

Official statistics in development: digital social care records

Estimated uptake of DSCRs

The estimated uptake of DSCRs relates to the proportion of adult social care providers that responded as having a DSCR, against the total number of responses each month.

Data on the estimated uptake of DSCRs is available up until the end of February 2024. As of February 2024, 63% of adult social care providers are estimated to have a DSCR, compared to 41% in December 2021.

Data on the estimated uptake of DSCRs can be found in table 1 of the accompanying ‘Estimated uptake of digital social care record statistics, April 2024: data table’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: April 2024 page.

Information on the uptake of DSCRs is self-reported and adult social care providers registered with CQC are required to provide an updated position on their DSCR usage annually. This means that data reported each month represents a snapshot in time from a sample of roughly a twelfth of the CQC-registered adult social care provider market. Due to the nature of this rotating sample, it is possible to see fluctuations in usage from one month to the next. To account for this potential for variation, the statistics presented in this report are a rolling average on the reported use of DSCRs across the preceding 3 months.

For more information, see the background quality and methodology for these statistics.

Data on the estimated uptake of DSCRs was added to this report for the first time in April 2024, following growing interest in measuring progress against public commitments.

Terminology

Care home

Facilities providing residential care. The data in this bulletin refers to Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered care homes.

Older adult care homes

Care homes serving any older people (aged 65 and over) as identified from the latest CQC data on care homes in the ‘older people service’ user band. A small number of residents within care homes serving older people may be aged under 65.

Younger adult care homes

Care homes not serving any older people (aged 65 and over) as identified from the latest CQC data on care homes in the ‘older people service’ user band.

Domiciliary care

Services providing personal care for people living in their own homes. The data in this bulletin refers to domiciliary staff employed by independent CQC-registered providers.

Staff

Unless specified, staff can refer to staff directly employed by a provider and/or through an agency.

Active Capacity Tracker locations

Care homes which have a CQC active status, excluding those with a current dormancy start date.

Vacant and admittable beds

Beds which are vacant and available to accept an admission on the day of data submission, as self-reported by care providers in Capacity Tracker.

Vacant and non-admittable beds

Beds which are vacant but not available for admission on the day of data submission, as self-reported by care providers in Capacity Tracker. This includes the number of beds which are vacant and reserved.

About this data

These statistics are being published as a part of a wider landscape of statistics on adult social care. The Government Statistical Service compiles a UK adult social care database of official statistics on adult social care across the 4 nations of the UK. This is updated on a monthly basis.

The UK Statistics Authority conducted a review of adult social care statistics in England, which called for:

• better leadership and collaboration across different organisations publishing official statistics. This publication has been produced in collaboration with other statistics providers of COVID-19 adult social care data and DHSC will endeavour to work with various stakeholders as more data is published through this publication
• addressing of gaps in available data, particularly in privately funded care. This bulletin aims to plug some of that gap by including data on residents privately funding their care in addition to those funded by local authorities
• improving existing official statistics. Statistics derived from Capacity Tracker are badged as official statistics and more data will be added iteratively based on user needs

Data sources

Data on occupancy and visiting in care homes, staff absence and vaccinations is taken from self-reported data submitted by care providers in England through a data collection and insight tool called Capacity Tracker. From 31 July 2022, this data is part of the subset of data that providers are mandated to submit on a monthly basis.

More detailed information about data sources can be found in the background quality and methodology for these statistics. This document also includes detailed information on:

• data coverage
• data quality
• relevance
• accuracy and reliability
• timeliness and punctuality
• comparability and coherence
• accessibility and clarity
• cost and burden

Revisions

Any revisions to past publications will be in line with DHSC’s revision policy and highlighted in future publications accordingly.