How this data is presented
Methodology.
Source
All figures come from NHS England’s quarterly Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care publication. The latest data on the site is from 2025-26 Q4. The full national time series goes back to Q1 2017-18.
What approval rate means here
The approval rate on this site is NHS England’s AssmtConvRateStd field: the proportion of standard CHC assessments completed in the quarter that were judged eligible. The figure is calculated by NHS England, not by us.
The rate excludes fast-track applications (separate process for terminal illness) and excludes assessments completed but recorded as “no longer eligible” or incomplete.
What ICBs are
Integrated Care Boards replaced Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) on 1 July 2022 as the bodies responsible for NHS commissioning at sub-national level. There are 42 ICBs in England. CHC eligibility decisions are recorded at the ICB sub-location level, which is more granular than the ICB itself. This site rolls sub-ICB data up to ICB level for clarity. Sub-ICB pages may be added in a later release.
What raw approval rates can and cannot tell you
Raw approval rates as published by NHS England are not adjusted for the characteristics of the population each ICB serves. Several factors legitimately differ between ICBs and can affect the underlying eligibility rate independently of how the National Framework is applied:
- Age distribution. Older populations have more frailty and higher CHC eligibility.
- Deprivation. Deprivation correlates with both health-care need and assessment volume.
- Comorbidity prevalence. Dementia, severe COPD, neurological conditions, and other CHC-relevant conditions are unevenly distributed.
- Hospital catchment areas. Some ICBs cover regional referral hospitals and assess a higher proportion of acute cases.
- Referral practice. Differences in how routinely staff initiate Checklists affect the denominator of completed assessments.
- Local commissioning interpretation. ICBs apply the National Framework with some local variation in what constitutes a primary health need in marginal cases.
For these reasons, the raw rates on this site are best read as a starting point for further questions rather than as a like-for-like comparison. We present the figures as published by NHS England, with this caveat attached. We do not make claims about the cause of the variation between ICBs. Where independent research has examined the spread, the Nuffield Trust and the Public Accounts Committee are useful starting points.
Refresh cadence
NHS England publishes new quarterly data approximately three months after the end of each quarter. The site is refreshed within seven days of each new release. The footer shows the source quarter currently in use.
The PDF version of the statistical release was discontinued by NHS England in May 2026. The underlying data continues to be published as quarterly management information.
Postcode lookup
The postcode lookup uses postcodes.io, an open API maintained from the ONS Postcode Directory and NHS Postcode Directory. Postcodes are looked up at the time you submit the form. No postcode is stored.
Independence
The site is run by Digital Signet, a UK software studio. It has no commercial relationship with NHS England, ICBs, or care providers. It is not legal advice and not financial advice. For free NHS-endorsed advice on a specific Continuing Healthcare case, contact Beacon CHC.
Some onward links to financial or legal services may carry referral arrangements. None influence which data we publish, the framing on these pages, or which services we mention. See the about page for more.
Corrections
If a number on this site does not match the underlying NHS England dataset for the same quarter, email [email protected]. Verified corrections are made within seven days.