Section 1 - Care home residents receiving FPNC

This section presents the latest available data on the number of care home residents with local authority support, who are reported to receive Free Personal Care (FPC) and/or Free Nursing Care (FNC) payments (together, FPNC payments). Some residents receive both FPC and FNC. Others receive only FPC.

The annual data presented in this section uses data submitted for the last day (or week) of quarter 4 as the snapshot of the situation for the year. There is more information on how the data for this publication was collected in the accompanying methodology and background information document.

Note: a very small number of care home residents may receive FNC payments without FPC payments. For the purposes of this publication, it is assumed that all residents who are reported to receive FNC also receive FPC.

Full data is available in the accompanying tables, both at Scotland total and local authority level.

Age 65 and over

On the last day of 2024-25, there were 28,340 long-stay residents aged 65 and over in care homes with local authority support reported in Scotland. This is similar to the 28,730 reported in 2023-24, but 8% lower than was reported in 2015-16 (30,800).

Of the 28,340 reported long-stay residents aged 65 and over in 2024-25, 10,780 (38%) were reported as self-funding residents receiving FPNC payments. The remainder of long-stay care home residents were either self-funding residents but not in receipt of either FPC or FNC; or were publicly funded under the National Care Home Contract (NCHC). It is not possible to estimate how many long-stay residents whose care is publicly funded under the NCHC receive FPNC payments; please see the accompanying methodology and background information document for more information.

The 10,780 reported FPNC recipients in 2024-25 is similar to the 10,860 reported for 2023-24. However it is 4% higher than the 10,330 reported for 2015-16. 

The number of care home residents reported as receiving FPNC has generally risen each year since 2015-16, but it has not been a steady increase and there have been occasional decreases. The number of care home residents aged 65 and over receiving FPNC payments reached a high of 11,600 reported for 2018-19, and was similar for 2019-20 at 11,560, but then decreased to a reported 10,510 in 2020-21.

The 38% of long-stay residents supported in care homes reported as receiving FPNC in 2024-25 is the same proportion as reported for 2023-24. The proportion has increased over the last 10 years, from 34% reported in 2015-16. The biggest increase occurred between 2017-18 and 2018-19, when it rose from a reported 35% to an estimated 39% (an increase of four percentage points), before decreasing slightly to a reported 38% in 2019-20.

Of the 10,780 people reported as self-funding residents aged 65 and over who were receiving FPNC payments in 2024-25, 7,300 (68%) were reported as receiving both FPC and FNC payments. The remaining 3,480 (32%) were reported as receiving only FPC payments. The percentage of FPNC recipients receiving both FPC and FNC has increased from a reported 63% in 2015-16, but has consistently been reported or estimated as 68% since 2021-22.

Figure 1: Over the last 10 years, the total number of long-stay care home residents aged 65 and over has ranged between a high of 30,800 (reported for 2015-16) and a low of 27,580 (reported for 2021-22).

The number of self-funding long-stay care home residents aged 65 and over who were estimated or reported to receive both FPC and FNC payments (bottom bar), FPC payments only (middle bar), or who were not self-funders receiving FPC or FNC payments (top bar), Scotland, 2015-16 to 2024-25. Note: data points were collected on the last day (top bar) or week (bottom 2 bars) of the year – i.e. the end of March.

Source: Scottish Government Quarterly Monitoring Return.

Age 18 to 64

On the last day of 2024-25, there were 3,380 long-stay residents aged 18 to 64 in care homes with local authority support reported in Scotland. This is 2% lower than the number reported for 2023-24 (3,440). This number has remained relatively consistent over the last five years, at between 3,320 (reported for 2021-22 and estimated for 2022-23) and 3,440 (reported for 2023-24). However, between Q4 2018-19 (just prior to the introduction of Franks’ Law) and Q1 2019-20 it rose by 8%, increasing from an estimated 3,100 to a reported 3,340.

Of the 3,380 long-stay care home residents aged 18 to 64 reported in 2024-25, a reported 140 (4%) were self-funding residents receiving FPNC payments. The proportion of residents aged 18 to 64 receiving FPNC payments in 2024-25 was therefore much smaller than for residents aged 65 and over (for whom it was 38%). The same proportion (4%) of long-stay residents aged 18 to 64 were estimated to be receiving FPNC in 2023-24 (a reported 150 residents out of a reported 3,440).

Of these 140 self-funding residents aged 18 to 64 who were reported to have received FPNC payments in 2024-25, 80 (60%) were reported to have received both FPC and FNC payments. This is a decreased proportion compared to 2023-24 when it was a reported 64%, but an increase compared to 2022-23 when it was an estimated 59%.

The remaining 60 residents (40% of 18 to 64 year old FPNC recipients) in 2024-25 were reported as receiving FPC payments only.

Although there have been some noticeable changes in these percentages year-to-year, these changes should be treated with caution due to the small underlying numbers of 18 to 64 year olds receiving FPNC in care homes. However, over the last 17 quarters for which data are available, consistently over half of 18 to 64 year-old FPNC recipients were reported as receiving FPC together with FNC (54-65%).