A care-home advert may lead with a weekly figure and reveal compulsory charges later. Since 6 April 2025, the unfair commercial practices provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 have applied to commercial practices. CMA guidance says an invitation to purchase must give the total price including mandatory fees, taxes and charges. If the total cannot reasonably be calculated in advance because of the nature of the service, it must explain how the price will be calculated.
For a family choosing a home, this is a practical quoting standard. It does not create a national care-home tariff and it does not guarantee a room. It helps turn an advertised price into a comparable offer.
Recognise when a care-home message is a quote
An invitation to purchase contains enough information for a consumer to decide whether to proceed, even if payment happens later. Treat website prices, email offers and room proposals as decision material. Save the version shown, the date, room type and named contact.
If the provider says the number is “from” a figure, ask what mandatory component can move it upward. A low headline without a usable calculation is not a sound basis for choosing.
Request one mandatory total
Ask for the weekly or monthly total that the resident must pay for the proposed room and assessed care. It should incorporate every unavoidable fee. Then request a separate list of genuinely optional services that can be declined without losing the room or the agreed care package.
Challenge administration, onboarding, service, energy, maintenance or compulsory activity charges that appear outside the headline. The label does not determine whether a fee is mandatory; the resident’s ability to avoid it does.
Use a calculation method when needs are not final
Some care costs cannot be fixed until an assessment. In that case, the guidance allows a clear method that enables the consumer to calculate the price. Ask for the base room rate, care bands, triggers, unit prices and review process. Request an example based on the current assessment and another for a foreseeable increase in need.
A phrase such as “additional care charged as required” is not a useful method. The family needs to know who assesses, what evidence is used, when notice is given and when the new rate begins.
Build a quote matrix for three homes
Use rows for accommodation, personal care, nursing, dementia support, night support, continence items, laundry, transport, escorts, therapies, hairdressing, phone, television and activities. Mark each as mandatory, assessment-dependent or optional. Add deposit, advance payment and notice exposure.
Convert all figures to the same period. A weekly rate multiplied by 52 and divided by 12 is not the same as multiplying by four. Keep one-off costs outside the recurring total but include them in the move-in budget.
Confirm who is paying and under which pathway
Separate self-funding, local-authority arrangements, NHS Continuing Healthcare and Funded Nursing Care. Ask which decision is complete, which amount is provisional and who receives invoices. A provider’s gross price and the family’s expected contribution are different figures.
If a public assessment is pending, obtain the lawful interim terms in writing. Do not rely on an assumption that funding will be backdated or that a top-up will be accepted.
Tie the price to the actual room and care fit
Confirm the exact room, occupancy, bathroom arrangement, equipment and planned admission date. Supply current information about mobility, cognition, behaviour, medication, wounds, nutrition and overnight needs. Ask the registered manager to confirm acceptance after assessment.
A complete price does not guarantee clinical suitability. Keep a second acceptable option until the home has confirmed both the room and the care package.
Stress-test future increases
Ask for annual review timing, notice, index or rationale, and the process for changes in care needs. Model a routine increase and a move into a higher care band. Check whether a room supplement changes independently and whether the resident can challenge an assessment.
Read the termination clause alongside the increase clause. The true financial risk includes the cost and time of moving if the revised price becomes unaffordable.
Check deposits, holding fees and refunds
Before paying to hold a room, request the total price, refund conditions, deadline, exact room and outstanding assessments. Identify whether the payment is a deposit, advance care-home fee or non-refundable administrative charge. Ask what happens after hospital delay, death before admission or provider refusal.
Use traceable payment and obtain a receipt. Do not let a short deadline prevent review of a large personal guarantee or third-party top-up obligation.
Expose adviser and referral incentives
A broker may be paid by the family, the home or both. Ask who pays, whether the commission varies and whether non-paying homes were considered. The DMCC guidance also requires relevant trader identities and contact information in an invitation to purchase; the family should know who is acting for whom.
Require every recommendation to be explained through care fit, mandatory total, contract, regulatory record and current availability. A free search service is not conflict-free by definition.
Use Curalune to obtain comparable offers
Curalune’s option-selection service can organise UK care homes by assessed fit, mandatory total, variable-price method, optional costs, funding pathway and location. The fuller contact service can ask shortlisted homes about current availability, manager assessment, room details and written terms.
Curalune does not guarantee availability, admission, public funding, a quoted price or a future care decision. Providers and relevant public bodies make those decisions.
Escalate a misleading price with evidence
First ask the provider to reconcile the advert, quote, contract and invoice. Keep screenshots, emails, assessment notes and fee schedules. If unresolved, use the home’s complaints route and the relevant consumer-protection or regulatory channels. GOV.UK also provides a route to tell the CMA about a consumer-protection issue with a care home.
The aim before admission is prevention: one complete evidence pack makes the family’s decision and any later challenge much stronger.
Frequently asked questions
Must every care-home advert show one fixed lifetime price?
No. Where a total cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the trader should give a usable method for calculating it.
Are optional extras part of the mandatory total?
Not if they are genuinely optional. A charge that must be paid to obtain the room or agreed service belongs in the total.
Does a full quote confirm admission?
No. The home must still assess needs, confirm suitability and identify an available room.
Does Curalune guarantee the quoted price?
No. Curalune can support comparison and contact, but providers control offers and admissions.
