The Good Care Guide results reveal that children receive better quality of care than their elderly relatives, with 88% of nurseries and 91% of nanny agencies achieving top marks in terms of quality of care – in contrast to 78% of care homes.

According to the 4,000 most recent reviews, families rated the level of care of almost one in three (31%)  homecare agencies as poor or bad. A third (33%) of reviewers also ranked the category as poor or bad value for money.

A similar picture was painted of care homes, with almost one in five (18%) people with friends or family in a home rating quality of care as poor or bad. A quarter (26%) of people said they didn’t receive good value for money.

These statistics highlight a significant need for improvement and investment in the care industry, with reasons cited for bad service in the sector coming down to four key areas; lack of continuity, late calls, insufficiently experienced staff and little opportunity to provide feedback.

Among the 4,000 reviews were descriptions of care homes and homecare agencies “only being interested in money”, “a total disgrace to the care industry” and one reviewer described the idea of one homecare agency still running as “terrifying”. Many reviewers criticised the continually changing workforce which left those cared for unaware of who they were going to be letting into their homes, while others were criticised for administering medication incorrectly.