Official Statistics

Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2025

Published 2 October 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 to current report

Client level data

The long-term support statistics have been omitted from the October 2025 publication. They are being developed to align with the metric that will be included in the adult social care activity report, to be published later in October 2025. We intend to include the aligned statistics in the January 2026 publication. The methodological changes will lead to small differences in the resulting statistics.

Updates on future reports

The next publication will be released on 6 November 2025. Dates for future publications will be announced on the GOV.UK publication release calendar.

Potential changes to reporting frequency

We are considering reducing the frequency of this publication from monthly to quarterly in 2026, in line with the frequency of updates to the client level data and digital social care record uptake statistics. All tables, including those based on Capacity Tracker returns, will continue to display monthly data, with 3 months of new data published every quarter.

If you have any feedback regarding this proposal, please contact us at asc.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk by Friday 14 November.

Number of people receiving regulated domiciliary care

From November 2025, statistics on the number of people receiving regulated domiciliary care will be included in this report. These will supplement existing statistics on the number of residents in care homes, which have been published as part of this report since July 2025.

Vaccination statistics

Statistics relating to the 2025 to 2026 flu vaccination campaign in adult social care settings will be published from November 2025 on a separate GOV.UK page, which will be linked to in the November report. This will include data on flu vaccinations among:

• care home residents and staff
• staff working in domiciliary care settings

Main points

The main points outlined in this bulletin are that:

• 86.4% of total beds in care homes were occupied as of the week ending 15 September 2025
• there were 352,905 residents in the 91.9% of total care home providers that responded in the week ending 15 September 2025
• 99.4% of care homes in England were able to accommodate residents receiving visitors as of the week ending 15 September 2025
• 0.1% of care home staff and 0.1% of domiciliary care staff were absent due to COVID-19-related reasons as of the week ending 15 September 2025
• from July 2024 to June 2025, 599,000 people received a local authority adult social care assessment in England, having not received local authority long-term support in the previous 12 months
• as of July 2025, 80.0% of provider locations are estimated to have a digital social care record (DSCR)

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

The chapters below contain detailed analysis on the published statistics.

1. Occupancy

As of the week ending 15 September 2025:

• 86.4% of total beds in care homes were occupied
• 10.3% of total beds in care homes were vacant and admittable
• 3.2% of total 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 October 2024 to 15 September 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 September 2025
• the proportion of total beds occupied remained above the 12-month average of 86.0% between October 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 between June 2025 and September 2025
• the proportion of total beds vacant and admittable remained at or just below the 12-month average of 10.8% between October 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 September 2025
• the proportion of total beds vacant and non-admittable remained just below the 12-month average of 3.1% between October 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 September 2025, with the exception of slight increases in April 2025, June 2025 and August 2025

There was some regional variation in care home occupancy rates. As of the week ending 15 September 2025, the proportion of total care home beds that were:

• occupied varied from 83.4% in the East Midlands to 89.6% in London
• vacant and admittable varied from 7.3% in London to 12.6% in the East Midlands
• vacant and non-admittable varied from 2.4% in the North East to 4.0% in the East Midlands

This data can be found in table 4a of the accompanying ‘Occupancy, visiting and workforce statistics, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 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 15 September 2025, were:

• 86.0% of non-specialist residential beds
• 86.9% of non-specialist nursing beds
• 87.2% of specialist and other beds

The proportions of total beds vacant and admittable by bed type, as of the week ending 15 September 2025, were:

• 10.7% of non-specialist residential beds
• 10.0% of non-specialist nursing beds
• 9.4% of specialist and other beds

The proportions of total beds vacant and non-admittable by bed type, as of the week ending 15 September 2025, were:

• 3.3% of non-specialist residential beds
• 3.2% of non-specialist nursing beds
• 3.4% 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 15 September 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 86.0% among non-specialist residential beds to 87.2% among specialist and other beds
• the proportion of vacant and admittable beds varied from 9.4% among specialist and other beds to 10.7% among non-specialist residential beds
• the proportion of vacant and non-admittable beds varied from 3.2% among non-specialist nursing beds to 3.4% 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, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2025 page.

2. Number of care home residents

As of the week ending 15 September 2025, there were 352,905 residents in the 91.9% of total care home providers that responded. This included:

• 326,753 residents in the 92.0% of older adult care home providers that responded
• 26,152 residents in the 91.4% of younger adult care home providers that responded

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, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 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 15 September 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 15 September 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 15 September 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 North East, South East, South West and 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, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2025 page, in addition to data by region and local authority.

4. Staff absences due to COVID-19

In the week ending 15 September 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 15 September 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 15 September 2025 there was no regional variation, with all regions reporting COVID-19-related staff absence rates of 0.1%. Since the week ending 14 August 2025, absence rates increased from 0.0% to 0.1% (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, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 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 15 September 2025, there was little regional variation, with regions reporting COVID-19-related staff absence rates between 0.0% and 0.2% (to one decimal place). Since the week ending 14 August 2025, absence rates increased from 0.1% to 0.2% in the West Midlands and decreased from 0.2% to 0.1% in London and from 0.1% to 0.0% in the East Midlands and the South West. 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, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2025 page.

5. Official statistics in development: insights from client level data

This publication includes only assessment statistics, as long-term support statistics have been excluded from the October 2025 publication. See the ‘Updates to current report’ section for more information.

Number of people receiving adult social care assessments, who have not received local authority long-term support in the previous 12 months

From July 2024 to June 2025, 599,000 people received a local authority adult social care assessment in England, having not received local authority long-term support in the previous 12 months. As a population rate, this represents 1,290 people per 100,000 adults in England.

In July 2024, there were 54,000 people assessed, the largest monthly number during the period. The month with the lowest reported number of people assessed was December 2024, in which 45,000 people received an assessment. However, this apparent drop in December 2024 may be due to delays in recording of completed assessments on local case management systems, from which client level data is drawn, with client level data coming from records extracted and reported in January. Monthly time series will be updated in future publications, using quarterly client level data submissions that cover a rolling 12-month period.

Figure 5: number of people receiving adult social care assessments, who have not received local authority long-term support in the previous 12 months, England, from July 2024 to June 2025

Source: adult social care client level data collection.

Notes:

• counts given are rounded to the nearest 1,000, except numbers below 10,000 which are rounded to the nearest 10
• rates per 100,000 population are rounded to the nearest 10

This data can be found in table 1 of the accompanying ‘Assessments - official statistics in development, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2025 page.

Ethnicity in ASC assessments

The figure below shows numbers per 100,000 population in England using the broadest Office for National Statistics ethnicity classifications. Between July 2024 and June 2025, 415,000 people receiving adult social care assessments identified as being White and of an English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British background, representing 1,230 per 100,000 people of this ethnicity in England. This makes this group the majority (69%) of those receiving assessments with a recorded ethnicity.

In this period, the total number of people assessed in each broad ethnic group is:

• Asian or Asian British: 31,000 representing 780 per 100,000 people of this ethnicity in England
• Black, Black British, Caribbean or African: 19,000 representing 1,140 per 100,000 people of this ethnicity in England
• Mixed or multiple ethnic groups: 6,340 representing 730 per 100,000 people of this ethnicity in England
• White: 438,000 representing 1,180 per 100,000 people of this ethnicity in England
• Other ethnic group: 9,000
• No data: 95,000

Figure 6: total number of people per 100,000 in England receiving adult social care assessments between July 2024 and June 2025, who have not received local authority long-term support in the last 12 months, by ethnicity

Source: adult social care client level data collection.

Notes:

• counts given are rounded to the nearest 1,000, except numbers below 10,000 which are rounded to the nearest 10
• rates per 100,000 population are rounded to the nearest 10

This data can be found in table 6 of the accompanying ‘Assessments - official statistics in development, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2025 page.

Gender in ASC assessments

The majority of people assessed between July 2024 and June 2025 identified as female (57% of those with recorded gender). In this period, 343,000 were assessed, representing 1,430 per 100,000 female adults in England. There were 251,000 people identifying as male that were assessed in the same period, representing 1,120 per 100,000 male adults in England.

Additionally, 470 identified as being a gender other than female or male. 4,240 people did not have a recorded gender.

Age group in ASC assessments

Between July 2024 and June 2025, there were 410,000 people assessed in England who were aged 65 and above, representing 3,740 per 100,000 people aged 65 and above in England. In the same period, 188,000 people were assessed who were aged 18 to 64, representing 530 per 100,000 people aged under 65 in England. There were also 750 people with unrecorded age assessed.

Within the older age groups, the number of people assessed in this period is:

• 167,000 people aged 75 to 84
• 138,000 people aged 85 to 94
• 16,000 people aged 95 and above

The relatively small number of people being assessed aged 95 and above can likely be explained by a smaller overall population and a higher proportion of people already receiving long-term support by that age.

Figure 7: number of people receiving adult social care assessments, who have not received local authority long-term support in the previous 12 months by age group, England, from July 2024 to June 2025

Source: adult social care client level data collection.

Notes:

• counts given are rounded to the nearest 1,000, except numbers below 10,000 which are rounded to the nearest 10
• rates per 100,000 population are rounded to the nearest 10
• different age groups are used for number of people receiving adult social care assessments and proportion of people receiving adult social care assessments

This data can be found in table 1 of the accompanying ‘Assessments - official statistics in development, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2025 page.

Region and local authority in ASC assessments

Between July 2024 and June 2025, the 3 regions with the largest number of people that received assessments were:

• North West: 93,000
• South East: 82,000
• West Midlands: 81,000

The region with the largest proportion of people receiving assessments was the West Midlands with 1,680 per 100,000 people. Conversely, the smallest proportion was 1,050 per 100,000 people in London. Comparison between localities should be made with caution as there are some differences in local reporting that may lead to invalid conclusions.

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.

6. Official statistics in development: digital social care records

Data on the estimated uptake of DSCRs is available up until the end of July 2025.

Adult social care provider locations in England with a DSCR

As of July 2025, 80.0% of Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered adult social care provider locations in England are estimated to have a DSCR, compared to 72.0% in July 2024.

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.

Figure 8: estimated proportion of adult social care provider locations that have a DSCR, England, February 2022 to July 2025

Source: CQC provider information return (PIR).

The main observation from figure 8 is that the proportion of adult social care provider locations estimated to have a DSCR has broadly increased between February 2022 and July 2025.

This data can be found in table 1 of the accompanying ‘Estimated uptake of digital social care records – official statistics in development, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2025 page.

People receiving adult social care services in England with a DSCR

As of July 2025, 88.9% of people cared for by CQC-registered adult social care providers in England are estimated to have a DSCR, compared to 81.4% in July 2024.

Data on the estimated coverage of DSCRs among people receiving adult social care services is available from October 2022, capturing information provided since August 2022. This follows the commencement of the ASC provider information provisions on 31 July 2022.

Figure 9: proportion of people cared for by adult social care providers estimated to have a DSCR, England, October 2022 to July 2025

Sources: CQC PIR and Capacity Tracker.

The main observation from figure 9 is that the proportion of people receiving adult social care services estimated to have a DSCR has broadly increased between October 2022 and July 2025.

This data can be found in table 2 of the accompanying ‘Estimated uptake of digital social care records - official statistics in development, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2025 page.

Adult social care provider locations in England who are in the process of implementing a DSCR

As of July 2025, an estimated 10.9% of adult social care provider locations are in the process of implementing a DSCR.

This information is taken from Capacity Tracker, which is updated monthly. The question in Capacity Tracker relating to DSCR use is not mandatory and as such this data may not be fully representative. It should be viewed only as an indication of the proportion of provider locations who may have a DSCR in the near future.

This data can be found in table 3 of the accompanying ‘Estimated uptake of digital social care records - official statistics in development, October 2025: data tables’ on the Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2025 page. Due to differences in data sources and coverage between metrics, proportions published in the accompanying data tables cannot be added together.

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.

Data on the estimated proportion of adult social care provider locations who are in the process of implementing a DSCR is taken from Capacity Tracker. This question does not fall under the formal notice of a mandate and as such this data may not be fully representative.

Client level data collection

The assessment statistics in this publication are created using client level data. The client level data collection is the first national collection of social care records, covering requests for support, assessments, reviews and services arranged or provided by local authorities as part of their duties under the Care Act 2014.

CQC PIR

Data on the estimated uptake of DSCRs by adult social care provider locations is obtained from the PIR. The PIR is managed by CQC. Each adult social care provider is required to complete their return annually, usually on the anniversary of their registration with CQC.

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.