Official Statistics

Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: August 2025

Published 7 August 2025

Applies to England

Introduction

This statistical bulletin provides an overview on a range of information on adult social care (ASC) settings in England.

Updates on future reports

The next publication will be released on 4 September 2025. Dates for future publications will be announced on the GOV.UK publication release calendar.

Main points

The main points outlined in this bulletin are as follows. In the week ending 14 July 2025:

• 86.0% of total beds in care homes were occupied
• there were 350,077 residents in the 91.6% of total care home providers which responded
• 99.4% of care homes in England were able to accommodate residents receiving visitors
• 0.1% of care home staff and 0.1% of domiciliary care staff were absent due to COVID-19-related reasons

These main points of interest are from the accompanying data tables on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: August 2025 page.

The chapters below contain detailed analysis on the published statistics.

1. Occupancy

As of the week ending 14 July 2025:

• 86.0% of beds in care homes were occupied
• 10.8% of beds in care homes were vacant and admittable
• 3.2% of beds in care homes were vacant and non-admittable

Figure 1: proportion of occupied, vacant and admittable, and vacant and non-admittable care home beds, England, 14 August 2024 to 14 July 2025

Source: Capacity Tracker.

The main observations from figure 1 are:

• rates of occupied beds, vacant and admittable beds, and vacant and non-admittable beds have remained stable over the 12 months to July 2025
• the proportion of total beds occupied remained at or just above the 12-month average of 86.1% between August 2024 and December 2024, with this proportion decreasing slightly between November 2024 and January 2025. This proportion remained stable between January 2025 and June 2025, before increasing slightly in July 2025
• the proportion of total beds vacant and admittable remained below the 12-month average of 10.9% between August 2024 and December 2024, with this proportion increasing slightly between November 2024 and January 2025 and decreasing slightly between January 2025 and February 2025. This proportion remained the same between February 2025 and May 2025, before decreasing slightly between June 2025 and July 2025
• the proportion of total beds vacant and non-admittable remained just below the 12-month average of 3.1% between August 2024 and December 2024, with this proportion increasing slightly between November 2024 and January 2025. This proportion remained largely the same between January 2025 and July 2025, with the exception of slight increases in April 2025 and June 2025

There was some regional variation in care home occupancy rates. As of the week ending 14 July 2025, the proportion of total care home beds that were:

• occupied varied from 82.9% in the East Midlands to 88.9% in London
• vacant and admittable varied from 8.1% in London to 13.4% in the East Midlands
• vacant and non-admittable varied from 2.3% in the North East to 3.7% in the North West and the East Midlands

This data can be found in table 4a of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, August 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: August 2025 page, in addition to data by region and local authority.

Care home occupancy by bed type

The proportions of total beds occupied by bed type, as of the week ending 14 July 2025, were:

• 85.6% of non-specialist residential beds
• 86.4% of non-specialist nursing beds
• 86.9% of specialist and other beds

The proportions of total beds vacant and admittable by bed type, as of the week ending 14 July 2025, were:

• 11.2% of non-specialist residential beds
• 10.5% of non-specialist nursing beds
• 9.6% of specialist and other beds

The proportions of total beds vacant and non-admittable by bed type, as of the week ending 14 July 2025, were:

• 3.2% of non-specialist residential beds
• 3.1% of non-specialist nursing beds
• 3.5% of specialist and other beds

Figure 2: proportion of occupied, vacant and admittable and vacant and non-admittable care home beds by bed type, England, week ending 14 July 2025

Source: Capacity Tracker.

The main observations from figure 2 are:

• the proportions of occupied, vacant and admittable and vacant and non-admittable beds were broadly similar among non-specialist residential, non-specialist nursing and specialist and other bed types
• the proportion of occupied beds varied from 85.6% among non-specialist residential beds to 86.9% among specialist and other beds
• the proportion of vacant and admittable beds varied from 9.6% among specialist and other beds to 11.2% among residential beds
• the proportion of vacant and non-admittable beds varied from 3.1% among non-specialist nursing beds to 3.5% among specialist and other beds

Data on occupancy and response rates can be found in tables 4a to 4d and 8 of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, August 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: August 2025 page.

2. Number of care home residents

As of the week ending 14 July 2025, there were 350,077 residents in the 91.6% of total care home providers that responded. This included:

• 323,069 residents in the 91.5% of older adult care home providers that responded
• 27,008 residents in the 92.1% of younger adult care home providers that responded

Please see the Terminology section for definitions of younger and older adult care homes and see the accompanying background and methodology for how this data can be used.

This data can be found in tables 1, 2 and 3 of the accompanying ‘Number of care home residents, August 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: August 2025 page, in addition to data by region and local authority. Response rates are given in tables 4, 5 and 6.

3. Visiting in care homes

In the week ending 14 July 2025, 99.4% of care homes in England were able to accommodate residents receiving visitors. This figure has been stable since September 2022.

Figure 3: proportion of care homes accommodating or limiting visits for residents, England, 4 January 2022 to 14 July 2025

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 required to submit data on visiting on a monthly basis. From August 2022 onwards, the data points in this graph are monthly instead of weekly
• E: from 5 June 2024, the visiting questions in Capacity Tracker changed so care homes could no longer respond ‘only in exceptional circumstances’ to the question of whether residents had been allowed visits in and/or out of the care home in the last month

The main observation from figure 3 is that 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.

In the week ending 14 July 2025, there was some regional variation in the proportion of care homes able to accommodate visits in or out of the care home for residents in all circumstances, ranging from 99.0% in the North West to 99.6% in the West Midlands.

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

This data can be found in tables 1 and 5 respectively, of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, August 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: August 2025 page, in addition to data by region and local authority.

4. Staff absences due to COVID-19

In the week ending 14 July 2025, 0.1% of care home staff and 0.1% of domiciliary care staff were absent due to COVID-19-related reasons.

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

Figure 4: proportion of staff absent due to COVID-19-related reasons, England, 4 January 2022 to 14 July 2025

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

The main observations from figure 4 are:

• 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
• between June 2023 and March 2024, absence rates remained the same among care home staff and decreased slightly in April 2024
• 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, May 2024 and September 2024
• absence rates have remained steady at 0.1% since April 2024 for care home staff and September 2024 for domiciliary care staff, excluding a dip to 0.0% (to one decimal place) for domiciliary care staff in May 2025, before returning back to 0.1% in June 2025

Staff absences due to COVID-19 in care homes

In the week ending 14 July 2025 there was little regional variation, with regions reporting COVID-19-related staff absence rates between 0.0% and 0.1% (to one decimal place). Since the week ending 16 June 2025, absence rates decreased from 0.1% to 0.0% (to one decimal place) in the East of England and remained the same in all other regions.

Data on absences and response rates in care homes can be found in tables 2 and 6, respectively, of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, August 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: August 2025 page.

Staff absences due to COVID-19 in domiciliary care

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

In the week ending 14 July 2025, there was no regional variation, with all regions reporting COVID-19-related staff absence rates of 0.1% (to one decimal place). Since the week ending 16 June 2025, absence rates increased from 0.0% to 0.1% in the East Midlands, the North West, the South West and Yorkshire and the Humber. Absence rates remained the same in all other regions.

Data on absences and response rates in domiciliary care settings can be found in tables 3 and 7, respectively, of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, August 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: August 2025 page.

Terminology

Active Capacity Tracker locations

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

Care home

Facilities providing residential care. The data in this bulletin refers to CQC-registered care homes.

Care provider location

The term used by CQC for a care home or home care agency, noting some care home locations will also offer home care. The term also includes a small number of other social care locations which are neither care homes nor home care agencies.

Digital social care records (DSCRs)

Software solutions for recording a person’s care information. They replace paper records.

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.

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.

Staff

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

This section details the data sources used to produce the statistics.

Capacity Tracker

Data on the following is taken from self-reported data submitted by care providers in England through a data collection and insight tool called Capacity Tracker:

• occupancy in care homes
• number of care home residents
• visiting in care homes
• staff absence in adult social care settings

From 31 July 2022, this data is part of the subset of data that providers are required to submit on a monthly basis.

Methodology

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.

Contact

We’d like feedback from our users about how you use our products, how well these products meet your needs and how they could be improved.

For feedback and any further questions, contact asc.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.