Official Statistics

Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: July 2024

Updated 6 February 2025

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
• 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
• insights from the client level data (CLD) collection on people receiving local authority provided or organised long-term support at national, regional and local authority level, which are published as official statistics in development
• estimates of digital social care record (DSCR) uptake, which are published as official statistics in development

Data on occupancy and visiting in care homes and staff absence in care settings 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.

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

Official statistics in development: client level data

Statistics from CLD are being updated in this report after being published for the first time in the March 2024 publication.

For further information on CLD please see the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: March 2024 report and annex of the background quality and methodology for these statistics.

Official statistics in development: digital social care records

Statistics on estimated uptake of DSCRs were published for the first time by DHSC in April 2024 as official statistics in development and will be updated on a quarterly basis. This report contains the latest DSCR figures.

Statistics on estimated uptake of DSCRs were revised on 6 February 2025, following the development of an improved methodology for calculating estimated DSCR uptake among adult social care provider locations.

Adult social care provider locations 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 location 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, uptake is now estimated by dividing the number of care provider locations with a DSCR over a 3-month period (current and preceding 2 months) by the total number of care provider locations which responded over the same period. This obtains the uptake across the 3-month period, instead of calculating an average of the monthly uptake.

Updates on future reports

The next publication will be released on 1 August 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: July 2024 page. For further detailed analysis on this data, see the ‘Further analysis’ section below.

Occupancy

As of the week ending 14 June 2024:

• 86.1% of beds in care homes were occupied
• 11.0% of beds in care homes were vacant and admittable
• 2.9% of beds in care homes were vacant and non-admittable

From February 2024 onwards, care home occupancy is calculated based on care homes that 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.

Figure 1: percentage of occupied, vacant and admittable, and vacant and non-admittable care home beds, England, 16 January 2023 to 14 June 2024

Rates of occupied beds, vacant and admittable beds, and vacant and non-admittable beds have remained stable over the January 2023 to June 2024 period.

Source: Capacity Tracker

This data can be found in table 4 of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, July 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: July 2024 page, in addition to data by region and local authority.

Visiting in care homes

In the week ending 14 June 2024, 99.7% of care homes in England were able to accommodate residents receiving visitors. This figure has been stable since September 2022.

Figure 2: percentage of care homes accommodating or limiting visits for residents, England, 4 January 2022 to 14 June 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
• 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

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

Staff absences due to COVID-19

In the week ending 14 June 2024, 0.1% of care home staff and 0.2% 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 3: percentage of staff absent due to COVID-19-related reasons, England, 4 January 2022 to 14 June 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. 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 and again in May 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, July 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: July 2024 page, in addition to data by region and local authority.

Official statistics in development: client level data

On 31 March 2024, there were 660,460 people receiving long-term local authority provided or organised adult social care:

• 483,255 people were receiving support in the community
• 132,510 people were receiving support in residential care homes
• 52,950 people were receiving support in nursing homes
• 220 people were receiving support in prison

Notes:

• values given are rounded to the nearest 5
• people may be receiving long-term support in multiple settings
• statistics do not include the Isles of Scilly

The total number of people receiving long-term support in England showed an increase from the lowest data point of 630,445 on 30 April 2023 to the highest point of 660,460 on 31 March 2024.

This trend is driven by the increase in support delivered in community settings (including support in the form of direct payments from the local authority that people can then use to buy their own care and support), where the number of people receiving long-term support increased from 455,370 on 30 April 2023 to 483,255 on 31 March 2024. The reported increase could be partly due to improved reporting by some local authorities. It may also be the result of seasonal patterns in long-term support provision.

Figure 4: number of people receiving local authority provided or organised long-term adult social care support at the end of the month, England, by support setting from 30 April 2023 to 31 March 2024

Source: client level data collection

The data used in figure 4 can be found in the accompanying ‘Long-term support statistics, July 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: July 2024 page.

Official statistics in development: digital social care records

Data on the estimated uptake of DSCRs is available up until the end of May 2024. As of May 2024, 69.1% of CQC-registered adult social care provider locations in England are estimated to have a DSCR, compared to 55.0% in May 2023.

Information on the uptake of DSCRs is self-reported. Adult social care provider locations 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 location 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 represent the reported use of DSCRs across the current and preceding 2 months.

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

This data can be found in table 1 of the accompanying ‘Estimated uptake of digital social care records - official statistics in development, July 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: July 2024 page.

Further analysis

Occupancy in care homes

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

• beds occupied in care homes varied from 83.4% in the East Midlands to 88.6 % in London
• beds in care homes that were vacant and admittable varied from 8.6% in the North West to 14.2% in the East Midlands
• beds in care homes that were vacant and non-admittable varied from 2.1% in London to 4.0% in the North West

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

As noted above, from February 2024 onwards, care home occupancy is based on care homes that 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.

Accommodating COVID-safe visitation in care homes

In the week ending 14 June 2024, 99.7% 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 has slightly decreased from 99.8% in the last month. This proportion has shown little variation since September 2022.

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.

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.

Adult social care workforce

In care homes

Absence rates in care homes stayed the same over the last month. In the week ending 14 June 2024, 0.1% 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 June 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 May 2024, absence rates remained the same in all regions.

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

In domiciliary care

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

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

In the week ending 14 June 2024, there was some regional variation, with regions reporting absence rates between 0.1% and 0.5%. Since the week ending 14 May 2024, absence rates decreased from 0.3% to 0.2% in the East Midlands and the South East, and from 0.2% to 0.1% in the East of England and in the West Midlands. Absence rates increased from 0.2% to 0.3% in London and 0.4% to 0.5% in Yorkshire and the Humber, 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, July 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: July 2024 page.

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

Official statistics in development: client level data

Ethnicity

White people of English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British background were the largest ethnic group in receipt of long-term support. As of 31 March 2024, 508,690 people identifying as this ethnicity were receiving long-term support.

The next largest group in receipt of long-term support were white people of any background except English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, British, Irish, Gypsy, Irish Traveller or Roma backgrounds, accounting for 17,530 people on 31 March 2024. The third largest ethnic group was black people of Caribbean background, of whom 14,140 people were receiving long-term support on 31 March 2024.

There were 37,675 people recorded with undeclared or unknown ethnicity and 2,475 people who refused to declare their ethnicity, of those receiving long-term support on 31 March 2024.

Gender

Of those receiving long-term support on 31 March 2024:

• 370,850 people identified themselves female
• 286,415 people identified themselves male
• 290 people identified themselves as another gender
• 2,950 people did not have a recorded gender

Age group

CLD allows for the most detailed insight to date into the age distribution of people interacting with the local authority adult social care system.

Of those receiving long-term support on 31 March 2024, 387,420 were aged 65 or above and 272,920 were aged 18 to 64. Of the more granular age groups, the 3 largest age groups were:

• people aged 75 to 84, with 138,805 people
• people aged 85 to 94, with 138,220 people
• people aged 45 to 64, with 137,260 people

Note: the age bands used in this publication vary in size, based on advice from local authorities and users about which groups would be most useful. The numbers are not population-standardised

Among all age groups, support is most commonly provided in community settings. For all age groups except people aged 95 and above, there was an increase in the number of people receiving long-term support in the community from 30 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

Figure 5: number of people receiving local authority provided or organised long-term adult social care support in the community at the end of the month, England, by age group, from 30 April 2023 to 31 March 2024

Source: client level data collection

The data used in Figure 5 can be found in the accompanying ‘Long-term support statistics, July 2024: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: July 2024 page.

Region and local authority

On 31 March 2024, the 3 English regions with the largest number of people receiving long-term support were:

• North West: 99,365 people
• London: 99,100 people
• South East: 95,675 people

All regions had a small reported increase in the number of people receiving long-term support from 30 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

At local authority level, figures and any apparent trends should be interpreted with caution, since we are aware that some local authorities do not have complete coverage and have known data quality issues that they have improved over time and are working to resolve for future submissions.

Four local authorities (3%) appear to have lower reported (less than 80%) coverage of long-term support in CLD, based on a comparison of the CLD figure for 30 April 2023 to the figure submitted in their SALT 2022 to 2023 return under LTS001b - the number of long-term service users as of 31 March 2023.

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 and staff absence 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.