Name: Where are the most care homes rated Requires improvement or Inadequate?
Creator: AskBart
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

2,382 of the 13,625 rated care homes in England (17.5%) are rated Requires improvement or Inadequate: 2,278 and 104. The highest share is in Slough, where 6 of 14 rated homes (42.9%) are below Good.

CQC data as at 2 November 2026, updated monthly · Download the data (CSV)

Requires improvement, England

2,278

Inadequate, England

104

Share below Good, England

17.5%

Highest: Slough

42.9%

Share of rated care homes that Require improvement or are Inadequate: highest 15 councils

1Slough42.9%
2Rochdale35.2%
3Wolverhampton34.3%
4Coventry33.8%
5Norfolk33.3%
6Walsall32.8%
7Liverpool32.5%
8West Northamptonshire30.5%
9Isle of Wight30%
10Dudley29.8%
11Wirral29.1%
12Tameside28.6%
13Medway28.3%
14Windsor and Maidenhead28.2%
15Central Bedfordshire28.1%

Every council

Rank	Council	Rated care homes	Requires improvement	Inadequate	Requires improvement or Inadequate
1	Slough	14	6	0	42.9%
2	Rochdale	54	18	1	35.2%
3	Wolverhampton	67	21	2	34.3%
4	Coventry	68	23	0	33.8%
5	Norfolk	294	87	11	33.3%
6	Walsall	58	18	1	32.8%
7	Liverpool	77	21	4	32.5%
8	West Northamptonshire	95	28	1	30.5%
9	Isle of Wight	60	15	3	30%
10	Dudley	84	23	2	29.8%
11	Wirral	103	26	4	29.1%
12	Tameside	35	10	0	28.6%
13	Medway	60	16	1	28.3%
14	Windsor and Maidenhead	39	11	0	28.2%
15	Central Bedfordshire	57	15	1	28.1%
16	Stockport	61	17	0	27.9%
17	Kingston upon Hull	73	20	0	27.4%
18	Luton	33	8	1	27.3%
19	Cheshire West and Chester	74	19	1	27%
20	Bracknell Forest	15	4	0	26.7%
21	Portsmouth	30	8	0	26.7%
22	Sandwell	79	21	0	26.6%
23	Wakefield	89	19	4	25.8%
24	Buckinghamshire	120	30	1	25.8%
25	Derby	67	17	0	25.4%
26	Halton	24	6	0	25%
27	Lambeth	33	8	0	24.2%
28	Bexley	29	7	0	24.1%
29	Reading	29	7	0	24.1%
30	Hertfordshire	220	50	2	23.6%
31	Lincolnshire	261	60	1	23.4%
32	Bradford	103	22	2	23.3%
33	Southwark	13	3	0	23.1%
34	Bedford	70	14	2	22.9%
35	Cheshire East	96	22	0	22.9%
36	Birmingham	251	54	3	22.7%
37	East Riding of Yorkshire	133	30	0	22.6%
38	Leeds	142	31	1	22.5%
39	Salford	40	9	0	22.5%
40	Nottingham	72	15	1	22.2%
41	Blackpool	63	14	0	22.2%
42	Kirklees	123	26	1	22%
43	Calderdale	41	9	0	22%
44	Staffordshire	237	50	2	21.9%
45	Knowsley	23	4	1	21.7%
46	Kent	461	91	8	21.5%
47	Doncaster	75	14	2	21.3%
48	Sefton	107	21	1	20.6%
49	Cumberland	78	16	0	20.5%
50	Torbay	69	12	2	20.3%
51	Plymouth	84	17	0	20.2%
52	Shropshire	105	18	3	20%
53	Leicestershire	150	29	1	20%
54	Telford and Wrekin	35	7	0	20%
55	North Lincolnshire	56	11	0	19.6%
56	Warwickshire	158	31	0	19.6%
57	Stoke-on-Trent	77	14	1	19.5%
58	North Northamptonshire	103	19	1	19.4%
59	Leicester	93	18	0	19.4%
60	Derbyshire	220	41	1	19.1%
61	Warrington	53	10	0	18.9%
62	Suffolk	170	29	3	18.8%
63	Blackburn with Darwen	32	5	1	18.8%
64	Cornwall	192	35	1	18.8%
65	Surrey	347	63	1	18.4%
66	Rutland	11	2	0	18.2%
67	Barnsley	67	11	1	17.9%
68	Enfield	74	13	0	17.6%
69	Lancashire	391	65	2	17.1%
70	Ealing	35	6	0	17.1%
71	Greenwich	41	7	0	17.1%
72	Manchester	71	11	1	16.9%
73	Oldham	42	7	0	16.7%
74	Essex	374	57	4	16.3%
75	Bolton	56	9	0	16.1%
76	Nottinghamshire	256	39	2	16%
77	Milton Keynes	44	5	2	15.9%
78	Herefordshire	82	12	1	15.9%
79	Worcestershire	161	24	1	15.5%
80	West Sussex	317	49	0	15.5%
81	North East Lincolnshire	52	7	1	15.4%
82	Hackney	13	2	0	15.4%
83	East Sussex	274	42	0	15.3%
84	Sheffield	107	15	1	15%
85	Redcar and Cleveland	40	6	0	15%
86	Hampshire	443	65	0	14.7%
87	York	34	5	0	14.7%
88	Southampton	48	7	0	14.6%
89	North Yorkshire	191	26	1	14.1%
90	Redbridge	71	10	0	14.1%
91	Bury	50	7	0	14%
92	Darlington	29	4	0	13.8%
93	Trafford	51	6	1	13.7%
94	Bath and North East Somerset	51	7	0	13.7%
95	Brent	45	6	0	13.3%
96	Gloucestershire	188	25	0	13.3%
97	Rotherham	77	10	0	13%
98	Haringey	24	3	0	12.5%
99	Oxfordshire	128	16	0	12.5%
100	Peterborough	32	4	0	12.5%
101	Barnet	75	9	0	12%
102	Swindon	43	5	0	11.6%
103	Somerset	184	21	0	11.4%
104	St. Helens	36	2	2	11.1%
105	Westmorland and Furness	54	6	0	11.1%
106	Kingston upon Thames	37	4	0	10.8%
107	Devon	286	28	2	10.5%
108	Hounslow	29	3	0	10.3%
109	Croydon	120	11	1	10%
110	North Tyneside	40	4	0	10%
111	Solihull	60	6	0	10%
112	Tower Hamlets	10	1	0	10%
113	West Berkshire	40	4	0	10%
114	Stockton-on-Tees	52	5	0	9.6%
115	Wiltshire	157	15	0	9.6%
116	Newham	21	2	0	9.5%
117	Wigan	53	5	0	9.4%
118	Camden	11	1	0	9.1%
119	Southend-on-Sea	78	6	1	9%
120	Hillingdon	45	4	0	8.9%
121	Northumberland	91	8	0	8.8%
122	Brighton and Hove	84	7	0	8.3%
123	Cambridgeshire	125	10	0	8%
124	Thurrock	25	2	0	8%
125	Newcastle upon Tyne	63	5	0	7.9%
126	Havering	52	4	0	7.7%
127	Wandsworth	26	2	0	7.7%
128	Hartlepool	27	2	0	7.4%
129	County Durham	140	10	0	7.1%
130	Wokingham	43	3	0	7%
131	Sunderland	87	6	0	6.9%
132	Bromley	45	3	0	6.7%
133	South Tyneside	31	2	0	6.5%
134	Harrow	49	3	0	6.1%
135	Dorset	105	6	0	5.7%
136	Richmond upon Thames	40	2	0	5%
137	Barking and Dagenham	21	1	0	4.8%
138	Middlesbrough	43	2	0	4.7%
139	Waltham Forest	43	2	0	4.7%
140	North Somerset	87	4	0	4.6%
141	Sutton	65	3	0	4.6%
142	Lewisham	46	2	0	4.3%
143	South Gloucestershire	75	3	0	4%
144	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	127	5	0	3.9%
145	Bristol	87	2	0	2.3%
146	Gateshead	48	1	0	2.1%
147	Islington	15	0	0	0%
148	Merton	35	0	0	0%
—	Isles of Scilly	1	1	0	100%
—	Hammersmith and Fulham	8	1	0	12.5%
—	Kensington and Chelsea	9	1	0	11.1%
—	Westminster	7	0	0	0%

4 councils with too few care homes to rank are listed at the end, unranked.

Methodology

Source: the Care Quality Commission's monthly “Latest ratings” file, taken from CQC's database (Open Government Licence v3.0). It covers every active care home in England registered with CQC, whether or not it is listed on AskBart, grouped by the council CQC records for the home. The date shown at the top is the date CQC's data is “as at”.

A home counts as rated when its current overall CQC rating is Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate. The share is Requires improvement plus Inadequate, divided by rated homes.

Councils are ranked by that share, then by the number of Inadequate homes. Councils with fewer than 10 rated care homes are listed but not ranked.

A rating is the CQC’s most recent published rating, whatever its date; a home rated Requires improvement some years ago may have improved without being re-inspected.

Use this data

The data is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: please credit AskBart with a link to this page. It contains public sector information from the CQC licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Cite this

AskBart (2026). Where are the most care homes rated Requires improvement or Inadequate?. Analysis of Care Quality Commission ratings data as at 2 November 2026. https://www.askbart.org/insights/care-homes-requires-improvement-by-council

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