How do we arrange a care needs assessment in Hertfordshire?

Contact Hertfordshire County Council and request an adult social care assessment, which the person themselves or a relative, friend or GP can ask for on their behalf. It is free and there is no financial test involved in getting one. A practitioner will look at how someone manages daily tasks, mobility, medication and safety when alone, then record in writing what support is needed. That written outcome underpins any funding decision and helps you judge which of the homes listed here could meet the need.

Will Hertfordshire County Council fund a care home place?

Funding is available where the care needs assessment concludes that residential care is required and a financial assessment shows the person qualifies for help. Income, savings and capital are all considered, and receiving a contribution towards the fee is a more usual outcome than having the entire cost met. Where the primary need is a health need rather than a social one, NHS continuing healthcare may be the relevant route. It is worth asking about funding early, since the answer narrows the field considerably.

Which care homes in Hertfordshire appear in this listing?

One hundred and seventy five registered residential care homes serving Hertfordshire are included, among them Tanners Wood, Osbourne Court, Greenhill Care Home, Dunsland House, Hazel End Care Home and The Radley Care Home. Every one is registered to provide accommodation together with personal care. Each entry links to a profile carrying the current Care Quality Commission rating and the inspection report behind it. With a list this long, filtering by location before comparing profiles usually saves a good deal of time.

How does a residential care home differ from a nursing home?

A residential care home provides a permanent place to live with meals, company and hands on help from care staff with washing, dressing and medication. A nursing home offers all of that and keeps registered nurses on duty to meet clinical needs such as complex medication, wound care or a condition that is deteriorating. Every provider on this Hertfordshire page is registered as a residential care home rather than a nursing home. If clinical needs are present or look likely to develop, raise it during the care needs assessment so the right category of home is identified.

How far ahead should we begin looking?

Beginning early is what gives you the benefit of a list this size, because the homes families like best are rarely the ones with a room free tomorrow. Several weeks allows time for an assessment, a discussion about money and unhurried visits to a few places. Searches that start during a hospital discharge tend to collapse down to whatever is available that week. Reading profiles before any move becomes pressing costs nothing and makes the eventual choice a considered one.

What should we ask when visiting a care home in Hertfordshire?

Ask how many carers are on duty by day and overnight, how long they have worked there, and what training they have had in dementia and end of life care. Find out how care plans are written and reviewed, and how families are told when something changes. Ask to see a week of menus and the activities programme, and get clear about what the fee covers and what is billed separately. If you can talk to a resident or a visiting relative, that conversation usually tells you more than the tour.

Care Homes in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire has 180 CQC registered care homes. 122 are rated Good, 3 Outstanding, 29 Requires improvement, 2 Inadequate, and 24 have not yet been rated. 118 of the 180 were last inspected more than three years ago.

Source: Care Quality Commission register, kept up to date as ratings change.

Hertfordshire at a glance

What the numbers say about care for older people in Hertfordshire.

Hertfordshire County Council pays, residential care: £906 a week. Self-funders are typically asked £1,585 to £1,856, median £1,700
Care home beds filled across Hertfordshire: 86%. The 12 month average is 85%.
Care home beds per 1,000 people aged 75+: 79
People aged 75 and over: 113,100. Rising to 131,400 by 2035, up 16%
Care homes, last 12 months: 3 opened, 3 closed. 18 changed owner, covering 1,000 beds.
Who pays, across Hertfordshire (estimate): 34% council, 49% self. The rest is NHS funded or other.
Living with dementia, aged 65 and over (estimate): 15,100. Rising to 18,600 by 2035, up 23%
People aged 85 and over: 32,700. Rising to 46,100 by 2035, up 41%

Powered by Orrery Intelligence. Market model built 22 October 2026 (ONS 2022 based population projections, CQC register), published care home prices, council planning records.

Paying for a Residential Placement in Hertfordshire

Where the money comes from is worked out through two assessments taken one after the other, and the first has nothing to do with finances at all. What a person needs is established before anyone asks what they can afford, and families who grasp that early tend to waste far less time looking at homes that were never appropriate.

Asking for a care needs assessment

Any adult who appears to need support is entitled to a free assessment, whatever their income or capital. A practitioner works through the ordinary business of a day, covering washing, dressing, eating, moving about, managing medication and staying safe alone, and puts the findings in writing. Hertfordshire County Council adult social care carries out these assessments and arranges funded support for those who qualify. The written outcome is worth having even when a family fully expects to pay privately, because it gives you a fixed description of the care required to hold each home against.

The financial side and what fees include

A financial assessment then looks at income, pensions, savings and capital to work out a reasonable contribution. Meeting the full cost privately, receiving help towards it and having it met in full are all possible outcomes, and where a person's needs are principally clinical the NHS may fund the placement instead. Across a county with this much choice, weekly fees differ considerably according to the support provided, the room and the level of supervision required, so ask for the figure in writing alongside everything charged on top, such as chiropody, hairdressing or outings. Where a third party top up is proposed, establish who is committing to pay it and what happens if their circumstances change.

Working a List of One Hundred and Seventy Five Homes Down to a Few

Choice on this scale is an advantage only if you have a method for using it. Location, registered specialism and inspection history will cut the list dramatically before you contact anyone.

Making sense of the inspection ratings

Because homes rated Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate all appear in Hertfordshire, alongside some not yet rated, the ratings genuinely discriminate between services here. Treat the rating as a way in rather than an answer. Open the report and look at what inspectors actually described, particularly around medicines, staffing levels and whether care plans matched the people they were written for. Check the date too, since a home rated poorly two years ago may have been through a change of manager, and a home not yet rated is usually newly registered rather than in difficulty.

What to notice when you visit

Arrange to see three or four homes and go at a busy time of day, ideally around a meal. Watch whether staff speak to residents rather than about them, whether people are occupied, and how long a call bell rings before someone comes. Ask about overnight staffing, turnover in the care team, dementia training and what the home does when a resident's needs grow beyond its registration. Homes such as Burleigh House, Ashlyns Care Home, The Mead, Meadowbrook Care Home and Elm View Care Home each have a profile here with the contact details you need to arrange a visit.

180 care homes in Hertfordshire (showing 1–50)

LIGHT AND HOPE · Hatfield, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Greenwood Cottage · St Albans, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Belmont View · Hertford, Hertfordshire · CQC Outstanding
Providence Court · Baldock, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Sunny View House · Harpenden, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Hillside · Oxhey, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
St Peter's Home · Watford, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Gombards · Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Walsingham Support - 122 Aldenham Road · Watford, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
CareTech Community Services - 196 High Street · Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Rosslyn Residential Care · Watford, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Jasmine House · Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Bricket Wood Care · St Albans, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Milford Lodge Care Home · Hitchin, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
St Agnells House · Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Greenview House · St. Albans, Hertfordshire
The Coach House · Hatfield, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Garden City Court · Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Meadowbrook Care Home · Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire
Shear Meadow · Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
SENSE Jenny Chapman House · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Crossbrook Court · Cheshunt, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Prince Michael of Kent Court · Watford, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Hillcrest · Welwyn, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Westmeade · Cheshunt, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Eggleton House · Tring, Hertfordshire
Highbury Rise · Hitchin, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Orchard House · Watford, Hertfordshire
Osbourne Court · Baldock, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Lavender Lodge · St Albans, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Forest Care Village Elstree · Borehamwood, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
United Response - 66 & 66a Lemsford Road · St Albans, Hertfordshire · CQC Inadequate
Park View Residential Home · Watford, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Wilton Lodge Residential Home · Radlett, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Greenacres · Hatfield, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Foxholes Care Home · Hitchin, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Friars Mead · Kings Langley, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Mayfair Lodge · Potters Bar, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Stanborough Lodge · Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Russets · Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Amberside · Watford, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
St Anthony's · Watford, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
Grange Care Services - 27 Flamstead End Road · Cheshunt, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Belle Vue · St. Albans, Hertfordshire
Three Oaks Care Home · Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Turning Point - Parkview · Watford, Hertfordshire · CQC Requires improvement
St Andrews Care Home · Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Montrose Care Home · Watford, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Jubilee House Care Trust - 29 Jonquil Close · Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire · CQC Good
Winnett Cottage · Stevenage, Hertfordshire · CQC Good

What care costs in Hertfordshire, per week

Type of care	What the council pays	What self-funders are typically asked
Residential care Middle half of prices from 12 Hertfordshire homes. Median £1,700.	£906	£1,585 to £1,856
Nursing care East of England figure, because too few Hertfordshire homes publish this price. 17 homes. Median £1,935.	£1,036	£1,800 to £2,126
Residential dementia care Middle half of prices from 12 Hertfordshire homes. Median £1,766.	Not published separately	£1,678 to £1,874
Nursing dementia care East of England figure, because too few Hertfordshire homes publish this price. 10 homes. Median £1,940.	Not published separately	£1,870 to £2,100

Published prices are often starting prices, and come from homes that publish fees, so treat them as a guide. Ask the home for its own price. Powered by Orrery Intelligence.

Inspected most recently

Carpenders Park, 19 August 2026, Good
Courtland Lodge, 12 August 2026, Requires improvement
Clare Lodge Care Home, 31 July 2026, Good

Longest since a report

Milehouse Lane, 28 September 2017, Good
Thorpedale, 29 September 2017, Requires improvement
Wisteria Lodge, 10 October 2017, Good

Frequently asked questions about care homes in Hertfordshire

How many care homes are there in Hertfordshire?

Hertfordshire has 180 CQC registered care homes: 3 Outstanding, 122 Good, 29 Requires improvement, 2 Inadequate, 24 not yet rated. Counts come from the CQC register and are kept up to date as ratings change.

How much does a care home cost in Hertfordshire?

Hertfordshire County Council pays an average of £906 a week for residential care. Self-funders are typically asked £1,585 to £1,856 a week. Middle half of prices from 12 Hertfordshire homes. Median £1,700. Published prices are often starting prices, and come from homes that publish fees, so treat them as a guide. Ask the home for its own price.

Which care homes in Hertfordshire were inspected most recently?

Carpenders Park (19 August 2026), Courtland Lodge (12 August 2026) and Clare Lodge Care Home (31 July 2026) have the most recent CQC reports.

Local care news in Hertfordshire

CQC register adds a new care home in North Hertfordshire: Monread Lodge (5 November 2026)

More local care news for Hertfordshire