What should care home website design do for families choosing care?
Care home website design has to help a family make one of the hardest decisions they will face, often in a hurry after a hospital stay or a fall. The site should answer, calmly and quickly: is this home rated well, can it meet my relative's needs, what will it cost, what is daily life like, and who do I speak to.
Families rarely read a care home site once. They find it, share the link with siblings, come back at night, compare three or four homes and then call. Each visit needs to leave them better informed. That means plain language, no jargon about “person-centred outcomes” without an example, and the practical details in predictable places.
The person searching is often not the future resident. It may be a daughter living two hundred miles away, a son on a lunch break, or a social worker. Some readers are older themselves and may use larger text settings. The design should work for all of them: clear headings, large tap targets, strong contrast and no pop-ups competing for attention.
- Rating: the latest CQC result, shown where people look first.
- Care: the types of care offered and needs you can meet.
- Cost: indicative weekly fees, inclusions, extras, deposits, key terms.
- Life: rooms, food, activities, visiting, the manager and team.
- Contact: a phone number and a short, gentle enquiry form.
Do care homes have to show their CQC rating on their website?
Yes. In England, Regulation 20A of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires rated providers to show their most recent CQC rating on every website maintained by them or on their behalf, together with CQC's website address and where the full assessment can be found. Anything shown must be legible, displayed conspicuously and show the date the rating was given.
CQC's guidance on how providers must display ratings adds a deadline: ratings must be displayed on posters at premises and on websites no later than 21 calendar days after CQC publishes them, even if you have asked for a review. CQC says it can prosecute for a breach of the regulation without first serving a warning notice.
For a care home website, this is not a footer detail. It is often the first thing a family looks for, and a missing or out-of-date rating raises questions that no photography can answer. We treat the rating as a core part of the design rather than something added at the end.
Source: CQC: how providers must display ratings. We build the display; your registered manager or compliance lead confirms it meets your obligations.
Use CQC's own widget and place it above the fold, so a visitor sees your rating without scrolling. CQC recommends the widget because it shows all the information the regulation requires, fetches your current rating from CQC's system, links to your inspection report and updates automatically if your rating changes.
CQC's instructions for the widget say to read its terms and conditions, place it above the fold so people do not need to scroll, and check all of your organisation's pages because you may need to display a provider rating as well as location ratings. The widget code comes from the “ratings posters and widgets” section of your service's page on the CQC website.
On the homepage, we place the widget in the first screen beside the home's name and phone number, on desktop and on mobile. It also appears on the care types page, the fees page and each home's page in a group site, because those are the pages where you describe your service. The layout is designed around the widget's space so it never overlaps, collapses or hides behind a cookie banner.
- Official widget code from your CQC location page.
- Visible in the first screen on phones and desktops.
- Provider-level widget added too where CQC's pages show one.
- Tested after launch and after every theme or plugin update.
What if your CQC rating is requires improvement or inadequate?
You still have to display it, and hiding it or placing it where nobody looks will cause more harm than an honest explanation. CQC's guidance encourages providers rated inadequate or requires improvement to show what they are doing to improve alongside the rating.
On the website, that means a short, factual section near the widget: what the inspection found, what has changed since, who is responsible and when the home expects to be reinspected. Written plainly, without defensiveness or blame, it reassures families that the manager takes the findings seriously.
CQC's guidance also says that if you have requested a review of your rating, you may add a note saying so, but the rating must still be clear and conspicuous. If you have taken over a home from another provider, you do not have to display the previous provider's rating, but if you choose to, you must make clear it was awarded to them. We build space for these notes into the page so they can be added or removed quickly.
How should a care home show fees on its website?
Show an accurate indication of the total weekly fees you typically charge self-funders for each type of care, what those fees include, the optional extras, any unavoidable additional costs and any upfront payments such as deposits. The CMA's consumer law advice for UK care home providers, published in December 2021, lists these among the key information you should prominently highlight on your website.
The same advice says key information also includes whether you accept self-funded and state-funded residents, the types of care needs you cater for, an overview of rooms and facilities, the size of the home and a brief description of staffing. It also covers important terms that might surprise people, such as any requirement for self-funders to show they can pay for a minimum period, how fees may change during a stay and when a guarantor might be needed.
Many homes worry that publishing fee ranges will scare families away. In practice, a family that sees a clear range and a list of inclusions arrives at the phone call better informed. A family that finds no price at all often assumes the worst or moves to a home that shows one.
Read the CMA's consumer law advice for care home providers. We lay out the page; your team supplies the figures and your adviser confirms the wording.
Designing a care home fees and key information page
A good fees page reads like a clear conversation, not a price list. It opens with a short summary: the care types you offer, the weekly fee range for each, and whether you accept self-funded and council- or NHS-funded residents. Then it explains the details in order.
We structure it as sections a family can scan: what is included in the weekly fee (meals, laundry, activities, basic toiletries, for example), what costs extra (hairdressing, newspapers, escorts to appointments), any deposit and how it is protected and refunded, how and when fees are reviewed, and the key contract terms. A downloadable version with the same wording lets families print it or share it with relatives.
Fees are stored once and used everywhere: the fees page, each room type and each home in a group site. When fees change at the annual review, your team edits one place. The page shows a “last updated” date so families know the figures are current.
Summary box
Care types, weekly fee ranges for self-funders, who you accept, a phone number.
Included and extra
Two plain lists side by side, so nothing is a surprise later.
Terms that matter
Deposits, fee reviews, minimum self-funding periods, guarantors, notice arrangements, in your own approved wording.
Virtual tours and photography that respect residents
A virtual tour lets a family far away see the rooms, lounges, dining room and garden before they visit, and it shows confidence that the home looks as good as the brochure. It can be a set of 360-degree photos, a guided video walk-through or a simple photo sequence room by room.
Residents' privacy and dignity come first. Photos and video should either avoid identifiable residents or include only those who have given informed consent (or where appropriate consent processes are in place), recorded and kept by the home. Health information about residents is special category data under UK GDPR, so images that reveal care needs deserve particular care. We plan shots around empty rooms, staff who have agreed, and details such as menus, activity boards and gardens.
Technically, tours need to be light. We load them only when a visitor chooses to open them, provide text descriptions for people using screen readers and offer a simple photo alternative for slow connections. A virtual tour should never delay the rating, fees or phone number from appearing.
Handling care home enquiries sensitively
Keep the enquiry form short, gentle and optional in detail, and put the phone number just as prominently beside it. Many families are writing at a hard moment, and a form that demands medical history, funding status and a date of birth before they can press send will lose them.
A good form asks for a name, a way to reply, the relationship to the person needing care, roughly when care might be needed and a free-text box. Everything else can wait for the conversation. We add a short note explaining who will reply and when, in your words, so nobody wonders whether their message has gone anywhere.
Behind the form, enquiries are sent securely to the right person: the home's manager, or in a group, the manager of the home selected. Because enquiries may contain health details, the data is kept only as long as you decide and is not copied into marketing tools without consent. Your organisation remains the data controller and sets the rules; we build to them.
- Five or six fields at most, one free-text box.
- No mandatory medical or funding questions online.
- A plain statement of who replies and roughly when.
- A phone number with opening hours beside the form.
Care home recruitment pages that attract staff
Recruitment is a second audience for most care home websites, and it deserves its own section rather than a single “vacancies” line. Candidates want to know what the job involves, what shifts look like, what training and progression are available and whether the home is a good place to work.
We build a careers area with a page per role (care assistant, senior carer, nurse, chef, housekeeper, activity coordinator), each describing the day, the training offered and how to apply. Real quotes from staff, with their permission, help more than stock photography. The application form is short and works on a phone, because many candidates apply on the move.
The careers pages can also carry structured data for job postings, so roles can appear in Google's job search features when set up correctly. For groups, jobs are tagged by home so candidates see roles near them. If you use an applicant tracking system, we link or embed it rather than rebuilding it.
How much does care home website design cost?
With BtechWaleTech, care home website design starts at US$150 for up to 100 pages, including the CQC widget, fees and key information page, care types, virtual tour, recruitment section and enquiry form. Quotes from UK providers vary widely; the difference comes mainly from photography and video, the number of homes, custom tools and how much content is written for you.
For care groups, each home needs its own pages, fees, manager details and rating display, and the site needs a way to keep shared content consistent. Large groups start at US$300. Custom software, such as a families' portal for news and visiting bookings or a recruitment tracker, starts at US$900. AI tools that help staff draft replies to enquiries start at US$600.
You pay hosting and domain costs directly and own them. For general UK pricing across site types, see our UK website design cost guide.
Care home website design for older readers and accessibility
Design for readers with changing eyesight, less confidence online or a screen reader: large body text, strong contrast, clear headings, generous spacing and buttons that are easy to tap. Many visitors to a care home site are older themselves, and every family includes someone who struggles with small grey text.
We build to WCAG accessibility guidelines as a working standard: every image has a description, video has captions, forms have visible labels, the site can be used with a keyboard and text can be enlarged without breaking the layout. Navigation stays simple, with the same few items on every page, so nobody gets lost.
Avoid anything that moves without being asked: autoplay video, sliders and pop-ups. They distract, slow the site and can confuse people with cognitive impairments. Our website accessibility audit page explains how an existing site can be tested and fixed.
How do families find care homes online?
Families search for care homes by town and by type of care, such as “dementia care home near Guildford” or “nursing home in Harrogate”, and they use Google Maps, care directories and word of mouth. The website should be strong for your town and your care types, and your Google Business Profile should be complete and accurate.
On the site, each care type gets a page explaining the care in plain words, the needs you can meet and the needs you cannot. A group needs a page per home, each with its own address, manager, rating widget and fees. Structured data describes the home, its location and contact details.
Reviews matter to families. Ask relatives for honest reviews, reply politely without sharing any personal information, and never offer anything in return; Google's review policy prohibits incentives. Nobody can guarantee a ranking position. Monthly local search care starts at US$150/mo; see local SEO services for what that covers.
How does a UK care home work with a web team in India?
Our working day overlaps the UK from late morning, so managers can review pages after the morning handover and see changes the next day. Most communication happens on WhatsApp and short video calls at times that fit around care routines.
You send your fees, care types, CQC location link, logo and photos or video from a local photographer. We send an itemised quote in USD within about two working days; you can pay in USD or GBP by Wise, bank wire or PayPal, and invoices come from India. Nothing is billed before you approve the written quote.
We never visit the home, and we never need access to resident records. Your domain, hosting and analytics are registered to your organisation, and we work as added users you can remove at any time.
First week
Call with the manager, CQC widget code collected, fees and key information drafted from your notes, page map agreed.
Second week
Designs for homepage, fees page and a care type page on a preview link; enquiry routing and recruitment pages agreed.
Care home websites in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
The CQC rating rule applies to providers regulated by CQC in England. Care homes elsewhere in the UK are regulated by the Care Inspectorate in Scotland, Care Inspectorate Wales and the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority in Northern Ireland, each with its own inspection reports and grading approach.
The CMA's consumer law advice covers care homes across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, so the fees and key information approach applies across the UK. For inspection results, we link to your regulator's report page and present your latest outcome clearly, in the form your regulator and your adviser confirm is appropriate.
Groups operating in more than one nation need each home's page to show the right regulator. Welsh homes may want bilingual pages; you supply or approve the Welsh copy, and we build the structure.
Care home website design checklist
Use this before launch or to review your current site. The first four items are the ones families and inspectors notice first.
- Latest CQC rating shown with the official widget above the fold (England).
- Rating updated within 21 calendar days of CQC publishing a new one.
- Indicative weekly fee ranges by care type for self-funders.
- Inclusions, extras, deposits and important terms clearly set out.
- Whether you accept self-funded and state-funded residents.
- Care types, needs you can meet, room types and number of beds.
- Virtual tour or photos without identifiable residents unless consented.
- Short enquiry form and phone number on every page.
- Careers pages with roles, training and a mobile application form.
- Large text, strong contrast, captions, keyboard access.
- Cookie banner keeping analytics off until consent.
- Domain and hosting registered to your organisation.
Worked example: a hypothetical 36-bed residential home in Kent
Say a family-run residential and dementia care home in Kent has 36 beds, a Good CQC rating shown as an image in the footer, no fees online and a single contact form asking for medical details. This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client.
The new homepage puts the official CQC widget in the first screen beside the home's name and phone number. A fees and key information page shows weekly fee ranges for residential and dementia care for self-funders, what is included, the extras, the deposit arrangement and the terms the owners want highlighted, all approved by their adviser.
A photo tour of empty rooms, the garden and the dining room replaces stock images. The enquiry form drops to five fields with a free-text box, and messages go straight to the manager. A careers section adds pages for care assistants and night staff with a phone-friendly application form.
After launch, the home can see how many families view the fees page, how many enquiries arrive and which roles attract applicants. If families still ask the same questions by phone, those answers become new sections on the site.