Trust & transparency
Methodology and data sources
Every figure on AskBart comes from a named public source or from the homes themselves. This page explains where, and how we turn it into the pages you see.
Care quality: the CQC register
Ratings, inspection dates, registration status and each home’s past ratings come from the Care Quality Commission’s public register (its Syndication API), matched to each listing by its CQC location ID. We show the overall rating and the five key-question ratings exactly as the CQC publishes them. We never turn a CQC rating into review stars. Pages show the date the data was last read from the register.
National comparisons (“against 79% nationally”) use CQC State of Care (2024/25). See how we present care home ratings.
Where homes are placed
Homes are listed under the town and council they’re in, worked out from each home’s postcode with ONS geography (via postcodes.io): the council that runs adult social care for that address, and the ONS built-up area as its town. A town page lists the homes within 3 miles of the town centre, widening to 10 miles only when there are none that close. An area page lists every home beneath it. Care-type pages (for example dementia or nursing) list the homes on the matching location page whose recorded care types or CQC specialisms include that type of care.
We only ask search engines to index a location or care-type page when it lists at least three homes, so a page about one or two homes is still there for visitors but isn’t presented as a destination in its own right.
Comparisons we calculate
- Rank among nearby homes: by CQC rating, then by number of beds, among homes of the same kind within 5 miles.
- Time since inspection: compared with the median for homes within 5 miles.
- Rating trend: the current CQC rating against the one before it.
- Share rated Good or Outstanding: of the homes with one of the four CQC ratings; homes awaiting a first rating are counted separately.
Area information
- Crime: police-recorded crime from the Police.uk data API.
- Flood risk: the Environment Agency’s real-time flood-monitoring API.
- Local amenities: OpenStreetMap, via the Overpass API.
- House prices: HM Land Registry’s UK House Price Index and Price Paid data.
- Population: ONS small-area population estimates (2021), via Nomis.
- Nearest hospital and GP: NHS reference data, with GP practices’ CQC ratings.
- Food hygiene: the Food Standards Agency’s ratings.
- Council care fee rates: the rates councils publish for the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (GOV.UK).
Fees
Fees are the prices homes and operators publish, recorded with the date we captured them. They are a guide: what a home charges depends on the room and the care needed, so always ask for a written quote.
Keeping it current, and fixing mistakes
We refresh the register data regularly and date what we show. If something is wrong, tell us — see corrections. Our guides follow our editorial policy.