Care home finance in Kent: who lends to care home operators?

55% of Kent care home operators have borrowed against their business in the last ten years and still owe it. That is what the Companies House charges register shows about care home finance in the county. We matched 281 of the county’s 305 care home operators to Companies House, and 155 have an outstanding charge registered since October 2016. Those operators run 7,700 of Kent’s 14,824 care home beds (52%). Barclays is the lender named most often, on 40 operators.

Lending is current. 78 operators registered at least one new charge in the last 24 months, 143 new charges in all. For anyone buying, selling or refinancing a Kent care home, the charges register is a free map of who is lending, to whom, and how recently.

Who are the biggest care home lenders in Kent?

Barclays leads by a wide margin, with charges over 40 operators, followed by NatWest (21), Metro Bank (14), HSBC (9) and Allica Bank (8). Counting beds changes the order. HSBC lends to fewer operators, but they are larger: 1,068 beds, second only to Barclays on 1,500. Metro Bank lends to more operators than HSBC but to smaller ones, averaging 41 beds each against 119 for HSBC.

Barclays is also the most active lender now. It took a new charge from 22 Kent care home operators in the last 24 months, more than any other lender. Gibraltar Investment (Holdings), acting as security trustee, took new charges over 7 operator companies in the same period. Charges taken at the same time over several related companies may reflect one facility for a group, so that count should be read as one lending relationship that may cover several homes.

High street, specialist and private lenders

We sorted every lender named on an outstanding charge into types. The big five high street banks (Barclays, NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds and Santander) hold charges over 71 operators. Challenger, specialist and private banks, such as Metro Bank, Allica, Cynergy, Coutts, Unity Trust and Charity Bank, hold charges over 52. Banks outside the big five hold a large share of this market.

In company law a mortgage is one kind of charge (Companies Act 2006, section 859A), so a care home mortgage over the operator’s own building appears on this register. So do other secured care home loans, such as a debenture with a floating charge over the business. Unsecured lending does not.

Below the banks sit 21 operators whose charges are held by a security trustee or agent, such as GLAS Trust Corporation. Trustees are often used when a larger loan is shared by several lenders or made by a fund. 19 operators have charges in favour of private lenders, funds or asset finance companies, 10 in favour of landlords or property investors (which may be security for a lease), and 7 in favour of public bodies, charities or pension schemes. Lloyds appears on only 2 Kent care home operators.

Lending over time

Kent care home operators registered 79 charges in 2024 and 78 in 2025, against a low of 33 in 2020 and a peak of 91 in 2017. Of the 2,218 charges on file for these companies, 1,588 have been satisfied and 630 remain outstanding. The figures count every charge, so a refinancing that releases one charge and registers another appears in both years.

Who owns the operators

Persons with significant control filings show 144 operators owned by another company (8,593 beds) and 105 owned directly by individuals (3,924 beds). 32 have no current controller on file, which is common for charities and companies limited by guarantee. Company owned operators borrow a little more often: 60% have an outstanding charge, against 51% of those owned by individuals.

The largest parent companies by Kent beds are Nellsar Holdings Limited (458), Barchester Healthcare Limited (434), Deer Capital GC Homes Limited (347), Care UK Limited (288) and Oakland Propco B Limited (227). Groups like these often borrow through a holding or property company outside Kent, so their debt may not show on the operating company at all.

Operator companies are old. The median was formed 19 years ago and 49% are 20 years or older; only 7 were formed in the last three years. Long ownership may mean succession is close for some owners.

What the accounts show, and what they hide

The charges register tells you who lends. The accounts should tell you how much and how the business is doing, but most Kent operators file accounts that show little. Small companies can choose not to send Companies House their profit and loss account, and micro-entities file only a short balance sheet (GOV.UK). 63% of care home operators file an accounts type that may leave out profit and loss. Only 68 file full, medium or group accounts that must include it.

23 operators are subsidiaries exempt from audit because a parent guarantees their debts. For those, the parent’s group accounts are the ones to read.

Home care operators are a different market

Home care and other community operators need little property to run, so they may have less to borrow against. Only 17% have an outstanding charge. Their lenders look different too: HSBC leads (13 operators), and a larger share of their charges are with invoice finance and asset finance firms, which lend against what customers owe or against vehicles and equipment. The companies are younger (median 8 years), 80% are owned by individuals, and 85% file accounts that may leave out profit and loss.

How to look up Companies House charges for a care home operator

A charge is security a company gives a lender over its assets for a debt. If the debt is not paid, the lender can look to those assets. Anyone can check the Companies House charges for a care home operator, free and without registering, on the Find and update company information service, which includes mortgage charge data (GOV.UK, “Searching the Companies House register”).

1. Find the company. Take the provider name from the home’s CQC page and search for it on Companies House. Check the registered office and directors match, as care companies often have similar names.
2. Open the Charges tab. It lists every registered charge, with a count of how many are outstanding, part satisfied and satisfied.
3. Read each entry. Note who it is in favour of, when it was created, and what it covers. Up to four lenders or trustees are named on each charge; if there are more, the filing says so (Companies Act 2006, section 859D).
4. Check the other companies. Repeat for the parent company and any property company that owns the building, as their charges will not show on the operator.
5. Follow the company. Companies House sends free email alerts when a company files something new, including a new charge (GOV.UK).

Outstanding or satisfied? A charge stays outstanding until someone delivers a statement that the debt has been paid or the property released. Companies House then records it as satisfied in whole or in part (Companies Act 2006, section 859L; GOV.UK form MR04). Part satisfied usually means some of the debt has been paid or some property released, while the rest of the security remains. A satisfied charge is history; an outstanding one is security a buyer or new lender will need to deal with.

How to read a Companies House charge

A company that gives security over its assets must register the charge with Companies House within 21 days, beginning the day after the charge is created (Companies Act 2006, section 859A). Each entry on a company’s charges page shows:

• Created and delivered dates. When the security was given and when it was filed.
• Persons entitled. The lender, or a security trustee acting for several lenders.
• Brief description. Often the property address or title number for a legal charge, or just "a registered charge".
• Status. Outstanding, part satisfied or fully satisfied, once the company files a statement that the debt is repaid or released.
• Whether it contains a floating charge or a negative pledge. A floating charge covers assets that change, such as cash and debtors.

What a charge does not show: the amount borrowed, the interest rate, the term, covenants, or whether the loan is in good standing. Some repaid loans are never formally marked as satisfied, so an "outstanding" status can be out of date. Personal guarantees from directors do not appear. Loans secured on a property held by a separate company, or by the owners personally, appear against that other entity, or nowhere on the public register.

How we worked this out

To map care home finance in Kent, we took every Kent care home registered with CQC on 1 October 2026 and grouped them by provider. We matched each provider to its company number at Companies House (281 of 305 care home operators; the rest are not companies, or the number was missing). For each company we downloaded the profile, persons with significant control and full charges history on 13 October 2026. We counted an operator as having secured lending if it has at least one charge created since 13 October 2016 that is outstanding or part satisfied. We grouped lender names, so that, for example, Barclays Bank PLC and Barclays Security Trustee Limited count as one lender, and sorted them into types by name. Beds are the CQC registered beds in each operator’s Kent homes. We did the same for 337 operators that run only community services, such as home care.