Estate admin · Care home fees
Three days at Bupa and HC-One, running to ten while belongings remain in the room; a flat seven at Care UK and Barchester; and no figure published at all by Anchor or MHA.
There is no single number. Of the four UK care home groups that publish their resident agreements, Bupa and HC-One charge three days from the date of death and then only while belongings remain in the room, up to ten days in total. Care UK charges seven days, stopping earlier if the room is cleared, extendable in writing to 28, and nothing after death where the resident had CHC or SSP funding. Barchester charges a flat one-week After Death Service Fee, refunded only if the room is both cleared and re-let within those seven days.
Anchor and MHA publish no figure. Four Seasons Health Care sold all its homes by April 2025 and Sunrise Senior Living's UK homes passed to Care UK and Signature in 2021, so neither has live terms. The CMA's advice is that up to three days should normally strike the right balance. Checked 6 September 2026.
Why the number depends on the contract, not the law
The charge is a term in a private contract, not a statutory fee. Each care home group writes its own resident agreement, and the clause that governs what happens on death is whichever one was signed at admission. Bupa's is clause 10, HC-One's clause 14, Care UK's clause 14 and Barchester's section 8. There is no Act of Parliament that fixes a number of days, which is why four groups that all operate under the same consumer law arrive at four different answers.
The reference point is the Competition and Markets Authority's advice on fees charged after death, last issued in 2021. It says a fixed period of up to three days, beginning the day after the death, should normally strike the right balance, and that the CMA would be unlikely to challenge it. As an alternative it accepts charging until the room is cleared, provided there is a backstop of no more than ten days. Bupa and HC-One follow that second shape almost exactly: three days as standard, then daily while possessions remain, capped at ten.
Care UK and Barchester both charge seven days, and the CMA has already tested one of them. It sent Barchester a letter before action on 25 July 2019 and issued court proceedings on 24 March 2020 because it believed the fee ran for longer than its guidance outlined. It then discontinued the claim on 13 August 2021 after the Care UK judgment. The point was never decided on its merits, and Barchester's August 2026 terms still charge a flat week. That is why two seven-day clauses can sit alongside two three-day clauses in the same market.
The other four names on this page vary for a different reason: they publish nothing to compare. Anchor's guidance says only that unpaid fees are deducted from the estate; MHA's per-home Key Facts sheets cover funding routes and fee reviews and never mention death. Four Seasons Health Care and Sunrise Senior Living no longer operate homes under their own names, so a building still carrying either brand is contracted under whoever now runs it. For all four, the figure exists only in the signed agreement.
What to do with the final account
- Ask the home for a copy of the signed resident agreement and find the death clause. The figure is contract-specific and the clause is short: Bupa clause 10, HC-One clause 14, Care UK clause 14, Barchester section 8. For Anchor, MHA and any former Four Seasons or Sunrise home, the signed agreement is the only place the number exists.
- Clear the room within three days if the family can manage it. At Bupa and HC-One every day past the third that belongings remain is a day charged, up to ten; at Care UK fees are payable only for the days possessions remain. At Barchester clearing the room alone does not reduce the fee, so there is less to gain by hurrying there.
- Record the date the room was cleared and who at the home confirmed it. At three of the four groups with a published figure the charge stops on clearance, so the final account can only be checked against a date you can evidence.
- Check the funding route before paying a Care UK invoice. Care UK's clause 14.4 charges nothing after the date of death where the resident was receiving CHC or SSP funding from a funding authority. None of the other three groups with a published figure publish an equivalent term.
- Ask for the pro rata refund of anything paid in advance. Bupa's clause 10.4 refunds fees paid for the period after death; HC-One refunds pro rata if the room is re-let before the end of a pre-paid period; Barchester deducts its fee from the two-week refundable deposit or fees paid in advance and refunds days a new resident occupied the room.
- Treat the invoice as a debt of the estate. Anchor's own guidance puts it plainly: unpaid fees are deducted from the estate. Pay it from estate funds in its proper order, and keep the account and the clearance evidence with the estate papers.
What each provider's own agreement says
Eight names, checked on 6 September 2026 against each group's own published document. Read the third column as closely as the first: whether fees stop when the room is cleared matters more than the headline day-count, and it is where Barchester differs from the other three.
| Days charged after death | Room must be cleared by | Fees stop when… |
|---|---|---|
| Bupa | Within 3 days after the date of death (clause 10.2) | Stops at day 3 if the room has been cleared; if another resident moves in during those 3 days, fees are charged only for the days the room stood unoccupied; if possessions remain past day 3, fees run daily until they are removed, capped at 10 days total. Fees paid in advance for the period after death are refunded pro rata (clause 10.4) |
| HC-One | 3 days as standard, then up to 7 further days while belongings remain; the representative can request a written extension beyond that | Stops once belongings have been removed; if the room is given to another resident before the end of a pre-paid period, the estate gets a pro rata refund; full fees remain payable during any agreed written extension. If nothing is arranged, the home may clear the room and store the possessions for a further 14 days at the estate's cost (clause 14.2) |
| Care UK | 7 days after death, or the end of any written Extended Period (never more than 28 days after death) | Stops as soon as the room is cleared for subsequent occupation — fees are payable only for the days possessions remain; if the room is not cleared by day 7 (or the end of the Extended Period) Care UK may clear it itself and charge removal, storage and forwarding at its published price list; the agreement terminates the day after the room is cleared |
| Barchester | Room held for the family for a guaranteed 7 days after death; if possessions cannot be collected within 7 days Barchester agrees storage or disposal with the family; if no instructions are given within 28 days of death it writes giving notice of its intention to sell items of significant value (proceeds less costs to the estate) and other items may be donated to charity; storage costs are deducted from the final account | Not tied to clearance alone — the fee is charged as a flat week; it is waived or refunded only for the days a NEW resident occupies the room, and only if the room is both cleared AND re-let within the 7 days. The fee may be deducted from the two-week Refundable Deposit or any fees paid in advance |
| Four Seasons Health Care · publishes nothing | Not published | Not published |
| Anchor · publishes nothing | Not published | Not published |
| MHA · publishes nothing | Not published | Not published |
| Sunrise Senior Living · publishes nothing | Not published | Not published |
8 checked · 4 publish nothing at all on this question — that row is kept deliberately, because the silence is the finding. Each row is what that provider’s own page says, on the date beside it.
If you are dealing with the whole estate
The care home's final account is usually one of the first invoices an executor sees, and one of the few the family can still influence, because at three of the four groups with a published figure the charge stops when the room is cleared. Valoren's blank executor checklist is free and time-phased from the first week onwards, which is when this invoice arrives.
Once the account is agreed it is an estate debt like any other, paid in its proper order from estate funds. The estate debts priority guide sets out that order, and the bank bereavement thresholds page shows what each bank will release before a grant of probate, which is where the money to settle it usually comes from.
Care home fees, answered.
What usually comes next.
If this page answered the question, the next three take it further.
Informational, not advice. Every figure on this page is a clause in a group-wide resident agreement that the operator can revise at any time, and the four published documents are of very different vintages: Care UK's is the Resident Agreement dated June 2025, Barchester's is dated August 2026, Bupa's carries a 2022 copyright with a server last-modified date of 14 April 2025, and HC-One's carries only the print code PEW220809 and no date. The CMA's 2021 advice on fees charged after death could also be reissued, and homes formerly run by Four Seasons Health Care or Sunrise Senior Living can change hands again. Before using any number here to check or dispute an invoice, confirm it against that home's current signed agreement, and check the CMA's care homes consumer protection case page on gov.uk for any change to the guidance. England and Wales, and each group's headline published resident agreement for self-funding residents (HC-One's is expressly its England and Wales agreement). Care UK's contract charges nothing after death for CHC or SSP-funded residents; the other providers are silent on whether their standard clause applies the same way to funded placements. An individual home's signed agreement can differ from the group template quoted here. Eight names were checked on 6 September 2026: four publish a figure, Anchor and MHA publish none, and Four Seasons Health Care and Sunrise Senior Living no longer operate homes under their own names. Not legal advice.