Coming soon. SocialCareScore is being prepared for launch and is not yet accepting ratings.
SocialCareScore
About

Press and media

Information for journalists and broadcasters: who we are, key facts about our method, how to cite our data, and how to report it responsibly.

Media enquiries

Press and media
Email: press@socialcarescore.co.uk

We cannot put journalists in touch with people who have rated a council, or share any information about them, because we do not know who they are.

About SocialCareScore

You are welcome to use this description:

SocialCareScore is an independent, public-interest platform that lets people anonymously rate their experience of council services in the UK, such as social care, housing, and bins and recycling. People who use council services, and the people who help them, rate six areas of their experience. SocialCareScore combines these ratings with published oversight reports and official performance data to produce a score from 0 to 100 for each council department, and a council score for each council, using a published method. It is not part of, or funded by, any council, government, regulator or inspectorate. Scores are not official ratings. Every comment is moderated.

Key facts

These facts describe how SocialCareScore works. They are not statistics about any council.

  • People can rate 12 council departments, such as social care, housing, and bins and recycling. Ratings open nation by nation and department by department.
  • People rate the same six areas for every department: communication, timeliness, professionalism, transparency, respect and dignity, and quality of support (called quality of service outside social care).
  • Each department score runs from 0 to 100 and combines public feedback (50%), oversight reports (30%) and official performance data (20%). Where a part is not available, it is left out and its weight is shared out between the other parts.
  • Social care also has a combined social care score. The council score is the average of a council's department scores that have a full score, with each department counting equally. A council needs at least 3 of them to get a council score.
  • Ratings from the last 24 months are used, and a rating's weight halves every 12 months.
  • A score is published and ranked only when the effective sample size is 30 or more. Between 10 and 29, a provisional score is shown but not ranked. Below 10, no score is shown.
  • Every score is shown with a 95% confidence interval, and every rank with a plausible rank range.
  • Councils are only ranked against councils in the same nation. In England, county councils and district councils run different services, so their council scores are only ranked against councils of the same type.
  • Ratings count after a 48-hour cooling-off period. A person checks every comment before it is published.
  • No names, contact details or IP addresses are stored with ratings, and there are no cookies or tracking on public pages.
  • The current methodology is version 1.1, effective from 01/10/2026. See how scoring works.

Citing our data

Please include the council or ranking, the score you are citing, the period the figures cover, the methodology version, a link, and the date you accessed it.

For a council score:

SocialCareScore ([year]). [Council name] council score, [month and year]. Methodology version 1.1. https://socialcarescore.co.uk/councils/[council] (accessed [dd/mm/yyyy]).

For a department score, such as a housing score:

SocialCareScore ([year]). [Council name] [department] score, [month and year]. Methodology version 1.1. https://socialcarescore.co.uk/councils/[council]/[department] (accessed [dd/mm/yyyy]).

For rankings:

SocialCareScore ([year]). Rankings by [council or department] score for councils in [nation], [month and year]. Methodology version 1.1. https://socialcarescore.co.uk/rankings (accessed [dd/mm/yyyy]).

For the method itself, link to How scoring works or the machine-readable parameters at https://socialcarescore.co.uk/api/v1/methodology. Data for analysis is available from our open data service.

When data is updated

  • Every hour: new ratings that have passed the cooling-off period are accepted.
  • Every month: on the 1st, scores are calculated for the previous month. An administrator reviews them before they are published, so publication may follow a few days later.
  • Every year: an annual score is calculated for the financial year ending 31 March.
  • When published: new oversight reports and performance data are added after two different people have entered and checked them.

Licence

We propose to publish aggregate data, such as scores, ranks, counts and confidence intervals, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0). The final licence will be confirmed on our open data page. The proposed licence does not cover published comments.

Reporting responsibly

  • Report the confidence interval, not just the score.
  • Say when a score is provisional. Provisional scores are not ranked.
  • Check the plausible rank range. Where ranges overlap, small differences in rank are not meaningful.
  • Monthly changes of less than 1.0 point are described as no meaningful change.
  • Explain that scores reflect the views of people who chose to take part, alongside published evidence. They are not a random sample.
  • Describe indicators to watch as rule-based checks, not findings of wrongdoing.
  • Use band names, such as "in the Needs improvement band", rather than words like "failing".
  • Do not compare councils in different nations.
  • Never try to identify anyone who left a rating or comment, or anyone described in one. Do not combine comments with other information in a way that could identify someone.
  • Include the council's official response where one is published, and ask the council for comment.
  • Always give the period and methodology version.

Right of reply and corrections

Councils can publish an official response on their council page. If you think any of our published data is wrong, email press@socialcarescore.co.uk with details and a link to the source.

  • Write our name as it is shown: SocialCareScore. When you cite a score, name the score, for example "council score" or "housing score".
  • Do not suggest that SocialCareScore endorses, or is endorsed by, any organisation.
  • Do not change the logo's colours, shape or proportions.
  • Do not use our name or logo in campaigns or fundraising without our permission.
  • To ask for logo files, email press@socialcarescore.co.uk.

Last reviewed: 15/09/2026