carehome.co.uk reported in January 2026 that 69% of its enquirers who knew how they would pay expected to fund their own care. That means out of their own pocket, or their family’s.
Among families who know how they will pay, that is a clear majority, and it should change how you think about marketing your home.
The old model and the new reality
For a long time, care home occupancy was largely driven by the system. A GP referred a family to a social worker, who assessed the resident, who was placed in a suitable home.
The care home’s job was to maintain relationships with the right people and keep its CQC rating respectable. Marketing was an afterthought, with a basic website and perhaps a leaflet in a GP waiting room.
That model still exists. But today, many of the people arriving at your door are arriving as consumers.
They’ve done their research, compared options, checked your reviews, and probably Googled “care homes near me” at 11pm on a Sunday while making one of the hardest decisions of their family’s life.
They’re not waiting for a system to place them. They’re choosing you, or choosing someone else.
Paying privately for a care home is common now. The question is whether your marketing reflects that.
Where your home is changes the picture a lot
The national figure hides real differences between regions. The same carehome.co.uk slides put self-funding highest in the South East and South West, at 75%.
The ONS measures something different, the share of care home residents in England who paid for themselves in 2022 to 2023:
England overall: 37%
South East: 47.5%, the highest
North East: 26.4%, the lowest
Those are big differences, and they call for different marketing.
In the South East and South West, you’re often dealing with private individuals making a high-value, considered purchase. At the UK average fee of £1,298 a week in Knight Frank’s 2025 review, that is about £67,500 a year.
For homes there, the gap between “good enough” and “excellent” marketing shows up directly in occupancy.
In the North East and other areas with fewer self-funders, the mix is more balanced, and relationships with referrers still carry real weight. Two things are useful to know.
First, private payers matter in every region, even where they are a smaller share.
Homes that build their marketing now will be ready for them.
Second, in those regions a well-marketed home may have less competition for these families’ attention.
Your own enquiry records will tell you where you sit: what proportion of the last year’s enquiries were self-funding?
That number gives you a rough idea of how much of your occupancy depends on your own marketing.
What self-funding families are actually looking for
A family paying about £67,500 a year approaches the decision like any major financial commitment. They research, they compare, and they look for reassurance in these places:
Your website
The first impression for almost every self-funding family.
They want to see what life looks like inside (photos and video), who will be doing the caring (staff profiles, a visible manager), and what living there actually feels like. A bullet list of services won’t tell them that.
Reviews and reputation
Word of mouth has gone digital. Families check Google reviews, carehome.co.uk ratings and CQC reports before they ever visit.
Few reviews, or unanswered negative ones, raise questions that are hard to overcome on a visit.
Not knowing what things cost is one of the most anxiety-inducing parts of the search, and families are often afraid to ask.
Homes that address it directly, with an honest indication of fees and a clear explanation of what’s included, stand out as trustworthy.
A genuine sense of character
This is an emotional decision as much as a practical one.
Families want to feel warmth, see staff who care, and find a place where their mum will be known as a person.
That feeling comes through content: stories, photos, a voice that sounds human rather than corporate.
The honest audit: five questions to ask yourself today
1. Does your website look like it belongs in 2026?
It needs to look credible. Small images, dense text or a layout that fails on a phone undermines trust before a family reads a word. At about £67,500 a year, presentation matters.
2. Are your reviews up to date and actively managed?
Collecting them is half the job. A manager who replies to reviews, especially critical ones, signals care and accountability. Families notice.
3. Can families see an indication of your fees?
The Competition and Markets Authority’s advice to care homes asks for an up-to-date indication of your weekly fees for self-funders, likely no more than one click from your home page. This guide is not legal advice, so read the CMA’s advice itself.
A page that explains self-funding and what affects cost also removes the worry that stops families picking up the phone.
4. Does your website feel warm, or just functional?
Read it as if you’re a family member in a difficult week. Does it feel like a place where your mum would be looked after, or like a compliance document?
5. Can a family find you when they search?
When someone types “care home in [your town]”, do you appear? If you’re not on the first page, many self-funders may never see you.
The opportunity hiding in plain sight
Self-funding families are an opportunity for any home that markets itself well.
Self-funding families make their own decisions, which means homes that invest in their marketing can genuinely compete for them in a way that wasn’t possible in a referral-dominated world.
The families of many of your future residents are out there right now, researching. The question is whether they find you.
Want to know how your home measures up against the self-funder checklist? Our free enquiry review covers exactly this, with no obligation and no hard sell.
Barry Jobson, founder
25 years in brand, digital and marketing, six of them only in care. Barry writes the Quick Wins email every week and still answers the phone.
