Adult care home occupancy remained above 86% in September. This comes as the government announced new investment to boost wages for social care workers.
Statistics published this morning by the Department of Health and Social Care show an occupancy rate of 86.4% in care homes as of 15 September 2025. The data collected reveals a total of 352,905 care home residents in England.
10.3% of beds were vacant and available for admission, while 3.2% were vacant but non-admittable. These figures have remained broadly stable over the past year, with the exception of a dip between November 2024 and January 2025.
The data team at Polimapper has visualised care home occupancy figures by local authority boundaries in England.
On a regional level, occupancy figures varied between 89.6% in London and 83.4% in the East Midlands.
The visualisation also shows that the London boroughs of Lewisham, Hounslow and Tower Hamlets registered the highest occupancy rates in the country, at over 94%. Conversely, the boroughs of Westminster, Newham and Wandsworth saw the lowest, at 75% and below. Explore statistics in your area below.
About this map
In this visualisation, we have mapped care home occupancy rates by local authority in England.
To explore statistics in your area double click on the map or use the search bar above. Alternatively, click here to launch the full page version.
Geodata context
The Secretary for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting has announced a £500 million investment to boost the wages of adult social care workers in England. This is part of the fair pay agreement.
In a press release, the government claims that the agreement will be negotiated by a new body, bringing together employers and trade unions to boost pay and conditions for the social care workforce.
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers: “This is a positive next step in ensuring investment in the social care workforce. Government, social care employers, and trade unions have worked diligently to get to this stage, and they will need to continue in the same spirit of partnership as they work to build a sustainable pay and reward offer for the vital social care workforce.”
Christina McAnea, general secretary at UNISON: “The best way to begin getting a grip on this complex, fragmented sector in crisis is to improve wages through a fair pay agreement, backed by proper funding.”
“The funding announced is a start, but substantially more will be needed to deliver the national care service the public deserves.”
“Once the care sector is able to stand on its own two feet and provide quality care to all those needing support, it will ease the pressure on families and the NHS.”
“Ministers will have to increase the funding behind the fair pay agreement at the earliest opportunity. Then wages in care can rise more quickly and the staffing crisis end.”