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Published June 2026. 271 care homes. 10 cities. All nine English regions. Read the methodology.
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View city reportsGoogle reviews provide limited information about a care home's regulatory standing. In the CareBlueprint study of 271 care homes, the statistical correlation between Google ratings and CQC outcomes is r = 0.108 — a very weak positive relationship. 37.9% of homes rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate by the CQC score 4.5 stars or above on Google. Families should use Google reviews as a starting point and always verify the CQC rating and inspection date at cqc.org.uk.
In the UK Care Transparency Index 2026 study of 271 care homes across 10 cities, 37.9% of homes rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate by the Care Quality Commission score 4.5 stars or above on Google. Roughly one in four — 25.6%, representing 54 homes — score 4.8 stars or above, the threshold at which CareBlueprint assigns its Critical Information Gap designation.
Across the 271 care homes in the CareBlueprint study, 40.6% had not received a CQC inspection in more than 36 months as of June 2026. Close to one in ten had not been inspected in five years or more. The oldest inspection in the dataset is Edenhurst Rest Home in Nottingham, last inspected in April 2019 — 85.8 months before the data collection date, predating the COVID-19 pandemic. Families can check a home's inspection date at cqc.org.uk.
A Critical Information Gap designation is CareBlueprint's highest information risk category. It means the publicly available information about a care home does not provide families with sufficient evidence to make a well-informed placement decision. It is not a judgement on the quality of care provided. Any home rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate with a Google review score of 4.8 stars or above is automatically designated Critical Information Gap, regardless of other factors, reflecting the most severe form of consumer information failure in the dataset.
Visit cqc.org.uk and search by the home's name. The CQC register shows the current rating (Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, Inadequate, or Not yet rated) and the date of the most recent inspection. If a home has not been inspected in more than two years, CareBlueprint recommends asking the home directly what has changed since the last inspection. Do not rely on a care home's own website or review platforms for this information.
CareBlueprint assigns three scores to every care home in its study. The Information Gap Designation (Low, Moderate, High, or Critical) is the primary score — it reflects how likely a family is to make a decision based on materially incomplete information if they rely on publicly available data alone. The Transparency Score (0–100) measures how closely online reviews align with CQC regulatory outcomes. The Confidence Score (High, Moderate, or Low) reflects the quality and volume of evidence available — inspection recency, review count, and review recency.
The Transparency Score (0–100) has four weighted components: Regulatory Standing (40 points — Outstanding or Good scores 40, Requires Improvement 15, Inadequate 0); Review Score Alignment (30 points — measuring the gap between the Google score and the expected range for each CQC band); Inspection Currency (20 points — full marks for inspections under 12 months old, zero for inspections over 36 months); and Review Volume and Recency (10 points). Scores of 80–100 indicate high transparency; 0–39 indicate a critical transparency gap.