The composite, explained
The Quality Score, in plain English.
A single number from 0 to 100 that summarises four signals about a care home. It's computed at read time, never stored, and exactly the same logic runs for every home on the platform.
The four signals
The Quality Score is a weighted average of four inputs:
CQC overall rating
Outstanding = 100, Good = 85, Requires Improvement = 50, Inadequate = 20.
Verified family reviews
Average rating ÷ 5, weighted by verified review count (capped at 20).
Provider transparency
Boolean: fees disclosed, real-time availability, listing complete, verified.
Operational responsiveness
Provider's average response time to qualified enquiries.
Score bands
- Exceptional (90–100) — strong CQC rating, high verified review volume, complete transparency, fast responses. A small minority of homes reach this band.
- Strong (78–89) — Good CQC rating with positive review profile and reasonable transparency. Most quality homes sit here.
- Standard (60–77) — meets CQC's Good threshold but with weaker review evidence, transparency, or responsiveness.
- Developing (below 60) — operational signals indicate the home is improving or has unresolved CQC findings. We continue to list these homes but always with full context.
A worked example
Consider a home with: CQC Good (85), 4.4-star average over 18 verified reviews (88 weighted), fees disclosed and availability live (100), and average response time under 4 hours (85).
Quality Score = (85 × 0.40) + (88 × 0.30) + (100 × 0.15) + (85 × 0.15) = 34.0 + 26.4 + 15.0 + 12.75 = 88 → Strong.
What the Quality Score is not
- It is not a recommendation. A "Strong" home may still be wrong for your loved one's specific needs. Best Match weighs family fit higher (65% vs 35%) for exactly this reason.
- It is not affected by what providers pay us. Foundation, Connect, and Performance subscribers are scored identically. So are non-subscribed homes we list.
- It is not stored. The score is recomputed every time you load a page. If the input data changes, the score changes with it — no caching, no stale numbers.
See how Quality Score combines with family fit in Best Match →