The evolution of the digital needs of the elderly care sector in 2025

As an agency, we’re lucky to have a vast array of care clients ranging across independent, single property homes, luxury coastal residences, as well as some of the UK’s largest care providers. Whilst each of these comes with its own distinct set of KPIs, they also come with a commonality of challenges, which is causing major evolution of their digital requirements as we look to the future.

For context, the elderly care market here in the UK is significant – worth £19.6 billion, to be exact. This comes as no surprise as occupancy levels continue to rise, as seen in Knight Frank’s UK Care Homes Trading Performance Review, at the back end of last year. Some highlights include a 3.6% increase in occupancy and an 8.4% increase in staff, coming after a significant dip in occupancy rate was seen during the pandemic.

These statistics might lead you to believe that there is seamless growth in the care sector, but experience tells us that this isn’t necessarily the case. Below, I’ll segment the issues into our two core focuses: staffing and occupancy.

Challenge 1: Staffing

In August, it was reported that there had been a 26% drop in health and social care visas, after the introduction of changes that saw restrictions for overseas care workers when it came to bringing relatives with them to the UK. The impact on international recruitment has been significant. Nursing Practice is reporting a reduction of 50% for overseas care worker applications, from October to April.

Data from nurses.co.uk shows an average vacancy rate of 10%, with an aging population continuing to increase the need for a larger care workforce.

This leaves us with what we and our clients feel is an imperative priority for 2025 – targeted recruitment to allow for occupancy growth. It’s easy to fall into the trap of delivering an abundance of occupancy leads and viewing that as a strategic success. However, when digging deeper into business objectives, these leads can only become improved occupancy rates with additional staff in place. Whether homes are looking to maintain occupancy levels or build them, a strong infrastructure including staffing is essential.

Incorporating targeted (geographically, demographically and at keyword level) recruitment campaigns can be implemented alongside digital PR for recruitment events and open days to maximise impact, and most importantly, applications.

When recruitment is moved away from being siloed to specific channels such as paid search, or third-party sites such as Indeed, the job seeker market can be broadened significantly, utilising multiple channels including paid social to maximise reach.

Challenge 2: Occupancy

Whilst property and food costs have risen by 33% and 89% respectively, the challenge and priority for improving occupancy rates still very much remains. The overall trend of users searching for care homes online is a positive one:

But in a highly competitive market, how do clients stand out from the crowd?

We recently held an internal knowledge share on the care sector, led by our Solutions Director, Dan Pratt. Credit to Dan, who demonstrated the sheer size of the market we’re working in. Data from nurses.co.uk shows that there are 17,000 care homes in the UK, and almost half a million beds (458,000), from approximately 5,500 care home providers, running around 12,000 residential care homes, with an average occupancy rate of 84%.

As you can see, our clients are striving for a piece of a very large and competitive pie. So, going into 2025, how do we stand out from the crowd?

Understanding orientation

Above, I mentioned the temptation to focus solely on lead volume as part of a care strategy. In such a competitive marketplace, this is not enough. In order to build those leads, we need to start at the beginning of understanding what customers need.

All too often, care decisions are made at crisis point with very little prior planning. With this comes heightened emotion, and a crucial need for brands, as individual homes, to build a personal connection with customers to understand their provision need, their financial situation and to emphasise the quality of care that they will receive.

Building this connection defines market position through reputation. With a high volume of homes to choose from in almost every region throughout the UK, this personal connection and time made available to each person to demonstrate home specific USPs, turns a lead into a resident. Putting staff at the forefront of your occupancy strategy can pay dividends – press coverage, blog content, events and a strong organic social presence all add a much-needed personal touch.

In terms of channel utilisation, it’s common to find that each home benefits from a different mix. For example, organic social and regional press coverage may reap rewards in highly competitive areas, whereas a geotargeted paid media strategy will be imperative for more rural homes.

Building a personal connection

Aside from understanding each person’s circumstances and requirements, how else can homes improve their marketing processes in 2025? It comes back to staffing.

Whilst it’s crucial to improve recruitment going forward, maintaining continuity through staff retention will offer critical trust signals for those searching for homes for their loved ones. Excellent staff to resident ratios appeal to those seeking care, and low staff turnover rates offer much-needed reassurance in both the care decision-making process and during residency. Staff profiles and experience should be visible and available, offering families and residents reassurance of high quality, compassionate care.

Aligning business priorities

Whilst recruitment and occupancy may seem like polarised business priorities, each should be considered when building strategies for the other. A ‘future-proof’ recruitment strategy offers a highly efficient and person-centred approach to care, encompassing the long-term goals of each individual home to make for a more desirable care facility for those in need. Occupancy campaigns can only enjoy genuine success with a recruitment strategy at its core – a highly personable approach demonstrated through staff continuity and quality of care.

In summary, digital needs are changing, especially those in the care sector. As an agency, we need to understand the goals of the entire business when working with care sector clients, rather than falling into the tempting trap of looking to the end of the funnel. Neither recruitment nor occupancy strategies can enjoy long term success without the other.

Care and compassion should not only lead internal strategies, but digital strategies, too. Demonstrating this through tone of voice continuity that echoes brand values is essential. Recruitment will be imperative to support business growth but must be done to ensure staff retention and continuity, to once again offer trust signals to those that are in emotional distress during a difficult decision-making process.