How much care costs in Leicestershire

Price ranges for care in Leicestershire

Agencies differ from each other more than regions do, so get every agency's full tariff, weekend and bank holiday rates included. For 2026/27, the Homecare Association reckons council-funded home care in England cannot be sustained below £34.42 an hour. Individual homes can be far from the average. The room, how much care is needed and any nursing all change the fee. For an identical room, a council generally pays less than a private payer.

Local picture: Leicestershire

81% of rated care homes in Leicestershire are Good or Outstanding, short of the England average of 83%. The area has 164 homes, 151 of them rated. 18% (29) are registered to provide nursing care. Paying privately in Leicestershire, expect around £1,290 a week for a room in a care home (Q4 2026 estimate), against a regional £1,290 (East Midlands) and £1,520 for England. Residential care is about £1,290 and nursing care about £1,540.

Care homes in Leicestershire reporting a bed count offer 5,416 beds between them, with 30 beds in the middle-sized home. By CQC registrations, Rushcliffe Care Limited is the biggest operator in Leicestershire (10 services: 10 care homes). Prime Life Limited follows with 9 services.

3 care homes in Leicestershire are rated Outstanding, and 28 are rated Requires improvement or Inadequate (19% of those rated, against 17% in England). Modelled fees for Q4 2026 put agency care at home in Leicestershire at £33.50 an hour. The East Midlands figure is £33.50 and England's is £33.50.

Figures: CQC register, Oct 2026; fees: Care Fees and Quality Index, Q4 2026.

What Leicestershire County Council pays providers

£25.92 an hour for home care (2025/26 average paid to agencies); £985.70 a week for residential care (2025/26 average, over-65s); £1,084.45 a week for nursing care (2025/26 average, over-65s) (source).

Expect a private quote to be higher. And where you prefer a pricier home than the council's budget allows, a third-party top-up covers the extra; a relative typically pays it.

Leicestershire County Council's top-up policy: A relative, friend or charity (one or more people) can pay a third-party top-up after passing an affordability check and signing a third-party agreement with the council, which invoices them every four weeks; residents can pay their own top-up only in limited cases such as the 12-week property disregard or a deferred payment agreement. (Checked 26 October 2026.)

Asking providers for prices

Get prices in writing from every provider you are considering. Agencies should state day, evening, weekend and bank holiday rates per hour, their minimum call length and any travel charge. Homes should say what their weekly charge covers and when it is reviewed.

Our cost calculator turns those figures into a weekly total, and What will I pay? estimates your own share.

CQC ratings for care in Leicestershire

National benchmarks first: 88% of inspected agencies and 83% of inspected homes in England reach Good or Outstanding. Locally the shares are 84% (below the benchmark) and 81% (in line with it). Leicestershire has 172 agencies and 164 homes in total, of which 60 and 13 have no result yet.