Revealed: New report shows the areas of England with the highest care home ratings

- The North East takes the top spot as the highest-performing region, with an impressive 91.50% of its care homes rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’.

- London followed closely in second place (89.76%), also ranking as the most consistent region, with 87.34% of its homes achieving the ‘Good’ rating.

- The South West secured third place with 88.38%.

- The East Midlands was recognised for having the highest percentage of individual homes rated as ‘Outstanding’ (5.95%).

- The East of England had the highest percentage of care homes rated as ‘Inadequate’, at 1.89%

The regions within England with the best-performing care homes have been revealed, thanks to a new report from online training provider High Speed Training - www.highspeedtraining.co.uk

High Speed Training has conducted an in-depth analysis of CQC data for over 13,500 care homes across England to explore the current landscape of care quality. The report [link to report - https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/campaign/cqc-ratings-report] reveals a sector demonstrating significant resilience and a strong commitment to excellence, with the vast majority of providers meeting or exceeding national standards.

82.7% of all care providers in England are currently rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’, with 78.36% of all care homes in England rated "Good." The findings celebrate the dedication of hundreds of thousands of professionals working to deliver safe, compassionate, and high-quality care.

The North East takes the top spot as the highest-performing region, with an impressive 91.50% of its care homes rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’. London followed closely in second place (89.76%), also ranking as the most consistent region, with 87.34% of its homes achieving the ‘Good’ rating, the highest in the country.

Completing the top three was the South West, with 88.38% of homes in the region rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’.

The lowest ranking regions were the North West, East of England and the West Midlands, with 80.05%, 79.31% and 76.91% of care homes rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ respectively.

The East Midlands was recognised for having the highest percentage of individual homes rated as ‘Outstanding’ (5.95%), and the East of England had the highest percentage of care homes rated as ‘Inadequate’, at 1.89%

The best performing local authorities in the country were Merton, Westminster, City of Bristol and Islington, with 100% of the homes in each local authority achieving a rating of good or outstanding.

Among all major English cities, Bristol stands alone with a perfect 100.00% high-quality rating. It is the only major city in the dataset to report no homes in the "Requires Improvement" or "Inadequate" categories, proving that urban scale does not have to compromise quality.

The lowest performing local authorities were Slough, Rutland and the Wirral, with the percentage of homes in these areas receiving a good or outstanding standing at 57.14%, 63.64% and 66.02% respectively.

High Speed Training’s report identifies that the highest-performing homes are increasingly ‘digitally mature,’ using real-time evidence and digital record-keeping to align with the CQC’s data-led assessment style.

The data also shows an overwhelming success rate in the ‘Caring’ pillar. Out of 38,548 total ratings recorded across the CQC’s five core questions, 99.6% of all homes are rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ for Caring.

Well-led is the most challenging pillar for the industry to master. It accounts for more ‘Requires Improvement’ or ‘Inadequate’ ratings than any other category. You are 7 times more likely to find a shortfall in ‘Well-led’ than you are in ‘Caring’. This confirms that governance, auditing, and leadership are the most difficult standards for providers to maintain consistency.

Dr Richard Anderson, Director of Learning at High Speed Training, said: “The ratings provided by the CQC are a really important part of the care home landscape, as they give the public an accessible way to assess the quality of care available to them.

“Our report shows that, across England, standards are really high, with almost 83% of care homes across England receiving a rating of ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’. These ratings are a direct reflection of how safely and effectively that establishment operates, and we urge both the homes themselves, and the people who use them, to take them seriously.

“For establishments that perform well, a high rating can be a real signal of trust. However, establishments with a lower rating can be off-putting, which can ultimately have a significant impact on reputation.

“The high average ratings show that a commitment to proper and safe practices, including a robust program of staff training, are crucial to keep performing at high standards.”

For more on the results and the methodology, please view the full report. [link to report - https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/campaign/cqc-ratings-report] For more information, please visit the High Speed Training website - www.highspeedtraining.co.uk

-ENDS-

Notes to editors

For methodology, please visit the report - https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/campaign/cqc-ratings-report

For any additional information, interview requests or comments, please contact Daniel.Raymond@highspeedtraining.co.uk, PR & Brand Manager or Kira.Smith@highspeedtraining.co.uk, PR & Content Executive.

High Speed Training

High Speed Training is a leading online training provider, dedicated to empowering learners in the workplace and beyond. They make compliance and learning simple, straightforward and engaging by delivering accredited digital training that helps people to be engaged, effective and safe.

With over 4 million learners supported to date, High Speed Training works with industry experts and specialists to provide up-to-date thinking and relevant, useful knowledge and deliver practical and user-friendly learning content across all devices.

Founded in 2008, the Yorkshire-based company delivers more than 170 specialist courses for the professional services, hospitality, food manufacture, logistics, education, construction, and health and social care sectors, as well as covering topics including health and safety, food hygiene, risk and compliance management, safeguarding, personal development and core skills.

Since 2023, High Speed training has been an employee-owned trust, and is now wholly owned by its employees, enabling staff to have a financial and directional say in how the business operates.

The company is a registered B Corp, a certification ensuring that businesses meet high standards of social and environmental impact, focusing on a company’s approach to its governance, customers, environment and communities.

In 2023, High Speed Training won the Learning Technologies Organisation of the Year award, and won the First Class E-Learning Large Provider of the Year award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in 2023 and 2024.

All of High Speed Training’s courses meet Continuing Professional Development guidelines and are accredited by the CPD Certification Service. All of their online courses are independently checked and approved by recognised authorities such as CPD, RoSPA, IATP, IIRSM and the Institute of Hospitality.

In 2025, High Speed Training placed 3rd in the Best Education and Training organisations in the UK to work for, 6th in the Yorkshire and Humberside Best Companies to work for and 7th in the Top 50 Best Mid Sized companies to work for in the UK.

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