Your visiting rights in a care home

What the rules say about visiting a relative in a care home in England, why visiting matters, and what to do if access is restricted.

Published 2026-06-16 · A general guide, not legal, medical or financial advice.

Keeping in contact with family and friends is recognised as part of good care, not an optional extra. After the disruption of the pandemic, regulations in England now make visiting a clear expectation for care homes, hospitals and hospices, and contact is treated as important to people's health, wellbeing and safety. Knowing the rules helps you stay close to a relative, and helps you recognise when a home is getting it wrong.

What you can expect

• Residents should be able to receive visitors, and to take visits out of the home, in most circumstances.
• A care home should actively support contact, not restrict it without a clear, proportionate and individual reason.
• People moving into or returning to a home should be able to do so without blanket isolation rules applied automatically.
• People also have the right to a relative or friend accompanying or advocating for them in many situations.

Why visiting matters

Regular visitors are one of the strongest safeguards against poor care. They notice changes in a person's condition or mood, ask questions, build relationships with staff, and keep a resident connected to the people who know them best. A home that welcomes visits at any reasonable time, and makes visitors feel at ease, is usually a confident and well-run one. Reluctance to allow visits, or insistence on short, supervised, infrequent visits without good reason, is a warning sign worth taking seriously.

If access is restricted

• Ask the manager for the specific reason, in writing, and how and when it will be reviewed. Any restriction should be individual and time-limited, not a blanket policy.
• If you are not satisfied, raise it formally through the home's complaints procedure, keeping a record.
• If it is still not resolved, you can raise your concerns with the CQC, which uses such information as evidence about a service even though it does not resolve individual disputes.
• For adult social care complaints that cannot be resolved with the provider, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman can investigate, whether the care is council-funded or privately paid.

Where to get help

This is a summary, not legal advice, and individual circumstances vary, particularly where someone lacks capacity and best-interests decisions are involved. Organisations such as Age UK and the Relatives and Residents Association offer free, detailed guidance on visiting rights and on how to raise concerns effectively and keep relationships with a home constructive while you do.