CareBlueprint is an independent research platform. We have no commercial relationships with any party that could influence our findings.
CareBlueprint is a small, independent research operation. It was founded and is run by two people — one a communications consultant, the other the Lead Researcher, who holds an MSc in Social Research and has direct professional experience across UK care settings. We are self-funded, with no investors, no advisory board, and no commercial backers of any kind. CareBlueprint operates as Care Blueprint Associates Ltd, registered in England and Wales (Company No. 17047628).
We built CareBlueprint because we believe families navigating one of the most difficult decisions of their lives deserve better information than the current system gives them. We have no commercial relationships with any party that could influence our findings.
We do not receive referral fees. Our revenue comes entirely from families and professionals who purchase our reports — which means our incentives are aligned with theirs, not with operators.
This independence is not incidental. It is the condition under which honest transparency research is possible. A platform that earns money from care homes cannot, by definition, be neutral about what those care homes' data shows. As a small, independent team with no external stakeholders to satisfy, CareBlueprint has no one to answer to except the families and professionals who use our research.
The UK Care Transparency Index is produced by CareBlueprint's Lead Researcher, who holds an MSc in Social Research and has direct professional experience across UK care settings.
The three-score framework — Risk Score (Information Gap Designation), Transparency Score, and Confidence Score — was developed to apply social research rigour to a consumer information problem that has so far received almost no systematic academic attention.
Academic institutions, policy organisations, and journalists wishing to discuss the methodology in detail are welcome to contact us.
Every care home in the UK Care Transparency Index receives three independent scores. The scores measure information alignment and decision-making risk. They do not assess the quality of care provided. A Critical Information Gap designation is not an assertion that a home provides poor care — it is an assessment that the publicly available information does not allow families to make a well-informed decision.
The primary public score. Expressed as Low, Moderate, High, or Critical Information Gap. Derived from the Transparency Score and Confidence Score using a defined derivation table. Any home rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate with a Google review score of 4.8 or above is automatically designated Critical Information Gap regardless of other score components — the Critical Information Gap override.
Measures the alignment between what families see online and what CQC inspectors recorded. Four weighted components:
| Component | Weight | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory Standing | 40 pts | Outstanding / Good = 40, Requires Improvement = 15, Inadequate = 0 |
| Review Score Alignment | 30 pts | Gap between Google score and the expected range for each CQC band |
| Inspection Currency | 20 pts | <12 months = 20, 12–24 months = 12, 24–36 months = 6, >36 months = 0 |
| Review Volume & Recency | 10 pts | 50+ reviews and a review in the last 3 months = 10, scales down |
Score ranges: 80–100 = High transparency · 60–79 = Moderate · 40–59 = Low · 0–39 = Critical transparency gap.
Expressed as High, Moderate, or Low Confidence. Reflects the quality and volume of evidence available for each home — not the score itself, but how much weight families should give it.
The UK Care Transparency Index draws on three sources:
Google reviews provide limited information about a care home's regulatory standing. The statistical correlation between Google ratings and CQC outcomes in the CareBlueprint study is r = 0.108 — a very weak positive relationship with substantial overlap across the full rating range. 37.9% of homes rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate score 4.5 stars or above on Google. Use reviews as a starting point, not a conclusion, and always check the CQC rating and inspection date at cqc.org.uk.
In the UK Care Transparency Index 2026, 37.9% of homes rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate by the CQC score 4.5 stars or above on Google. Roughly one in four (25.6%) score 4.8 stars or above. These 54 homes trigger CareBlueprint's Critical Information Gap override — the point at which the gap between public reputation and regulatory reality is most extreme.
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 — Edenhurst Rest Home in Nottingham — dates from April 2019, 85.8 months before the data collection date, predating COVID-19. Families can check the most recent inspection date at cqc.org.uk.
Critical Information Gap is CareBlueprint's highest information risk category. It means publicly available information — on Google, Carehome.co.uk, or other review platforms — does not give families sufficient evidence for a well-informed placement decision. It is not a judgement on the quality of care. Any home rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate with a Google score of 4.8 or above is automatically designated Critical Information Gap, reflecting the most severe form of consumer information failure in the dataset.
The Transparency Score (0–100) has four weighted components: Regulatory Standing (40 points — Outstanding or Good = 40, Requires Improvement = 15, Inadequate = 0); Review Score Alignment (30 points — the gap between Google score and the expected range for each CQC band); Inspection Currency (20 points — full marks for inspections under 12 months, zero for over 36 months); and Review Volume and Recency (10 points). Scores of 80–100 = High transparency; 60–79 = Moderate; 40–59 = Low; 0–39 = Critical transparency gap.
No. CareBlueprint is an independent research platform and we have no commercial relationships with any party that could influence our findings. It accepts no referral fees. Revenue comes entirely from families and professionals who purchase CareBlueprint reports.
Contact info@careblueprint.co.uk with the home name, the field you believe is inaccurate, and your evidence. CareBlueprint will review and correct genuine errors. Accurate data will not be removed on reputational grounds.