Self-Funders in Care Homes

Overview

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is looking for feedback to support the development of statistics measuring the number of people in care homes who are ‘self-funders’ – meaning they either fully or partially pay for their own care.

People who self-fund their care make up a significant proportion of revenue for care home providers. However, a lack of comprehensive, standardised and linked-up data currently stands in the way of fully understanding the care homes market. This, in turn, can hinder effective delivery and improved outcomes for people in social care.

The ONS is looking to address this gap, and has recently released an experimental, or ‘beta’ version of how we might be able to measure the number of self-funders in England.

We are looking for some initial feedback on:

•         Our experimental model

•         Our methods and data sources 

•         Our care pathways model

•         Our plans for future work in this area

We greatly value your contribution to this work, which will address a key evidence gap in social care statistics.