Care funding shortfall leaves self-funders filling £1.3 billion gap

clock • 2 min read

Self-funding, or private-pay, care home residents are keeping the sector afloat according to the latest figures from healthcare market intelligence provider LaingBuisson.

The latest update to its Care Cost Benchmarks toolkit has found that the average fee per resident paid to care homes falls short of the real costs of service provision by more than £100 a week. Residents who pay from their own finances are filling a funding gap of £1.3 billion a year. Residential care homes in England for older people, which employ average levels of staff at average pay rates, currently need to charge fees of between £648 and £590 per week in order to generate a reasonable annual return on capital (set at 11% in the Care Cost Benchmarks model, a level appropriate for ...

To continue reading this article...

Join COVER for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, key trend analysis and industry insights.
  • Stay on top of the latest developments around health and wellbeing, diversity and inclusion and the cost of living crisis.
  • Receive breaking news stories straight to your inbox in the daily newsletter.
  • Members only access to monthly programme 'The COVER Review'
  • Be the first to hear about our CPD accredited events and awards programmes.

Join now

 

Already a Cover member?

Login

More on Individual Protection

Budget 26: Self-employed fathers and partners to be eligible for paid parental leave

Budget 26: Self-employed fathers and partners to be eligible for paid parental leave

Two weeks of support currently worth up to £194 a week

Jaskeet Briah
clock 28 October 2026 • 2 min read
Budget an opportunity to review IP and Universal Credit: iptf

Budget an opportunity to review IP and Universal Credit: iptf

Letter to PM Andy Burnham

Vicky Churcher
clock 26 October 2026 • 3 min read
UnderwriteMe releases Protection Platform Pulse report

UnderwriteMe releases Protection Platform Pulse report

Underwriting outcomes and consumer research

Cameron Roberts
clock 21 October 2026 • 2 min read