Care in Scotland
Care services in Highland
501 care services in Highland, run by 237 providers. Of the 476 with Care Inspectorate grades, 406 (85%) have no area graded below Good.
Registered services
501
run by 237 providers
Average grade
4.4 / 6
Scotland: 4.5. The mean of each service's key-question grades.
Graded in the last 12 months
38%
192 of 501. A grade describes a service on the day it was inspected.
How care services in Highland are graded
Each service's lowest key-question grade, from the Care Inspectorate (6 is Excellent, 1 is Unsatisfactory). 476 of 501 have published grades; the rest have not been graded yet.
- Excellent (6) 1
- Very good (5) 114
- Good (4) 291
- Adequate (3) 52
- Weak (2) 18
- Unsatisfactory (1) 0
Care services in Highland
| Service | Town | Lowest grade | Graded |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Start Highland
Housing support services |
Inverness | 6 Excellent | May 2019 |
| Abbeyfield Ballachulish (Care Home)
Care homes |
Ballachulish | 5 Very good | May 2026 |
| Abbeyfield Ballachulish (Support Service)
Care at home services |
Ballachulish | 5 Very good | Sep 2018 |
| Abriachan Forest School
Nurseries and day care for children |
Inverness | 5 Very good | Oct 2021 |
| Acharacle Primary Nursery
Nurseries and day care for children |
Acharacle | 5 Very good | Jan 2019 |
| Achiltibuie Primary School Nursery
Nurseries and day care for children |
Ullapool | 5 Very good | Dec 2022 |
| Action for Children - Adult Placement Continuing Care Gael Og
Adult placement services |
Inverness | 5 Very good | Aug 2023 |
| Action for Children - Gael Og Fostering
Fostering services |
Inverness | 5 Very good | Aug 2023 |
| Airdferry Resource Centre
Care at home services |
Kyle | 5 Very good | Dec 2016 |
| Alice Wilson
Childminders |
Ballachulish | 5 Very good | Jun 2022 |
| Alison Green
Childminders |
Wick | 5 Very good | May 2022 |
| Allison Munro
Childminders |
Wick | 5 Very good | Sep 2026 |
| Alyson Wiltshire
Childminders |
Inverness | 5 Very good | Mar 2023 |
| Alzheimer Scotland - Ross-shire Service
Care at home services |
Tain | 5 Very good | Apr 2026 |
| Amy Murphie
Childminders |
Grantown-on-Spey | 5 Very good | Sep 2024 |
| Audrey MacKenzie
Childminders |
Alness | 5 Very good | Oct 2019 |
| Ballachulish Primary Nursery Class
Nurseries and day care for children |
Ballachulish | 5 Very good | Apr 2023 |
| Ben Wyvis Primary School Nursery
Nurseries and day care for children |
Dingwall | 5 Very good | Mar 2025 |
| Black Isle Childminder - Karen
Childminders |
Dingwall | 5 Very good | May 2018 |
| British Red Cross- Support at Home
Housing support services |
Inverness | 5 Very good | Jun 2026 |
See all 501 in the directory, with filters and search →
Premium and Featured listings are promoted placements (the provider pays, or occasionally we give a plan) and appear first. They never change a grade.
Where care services are in Highland
Inverness 192 Thurso 24 Dingwall 23 Fort William 22 Isle of Skye 18 Muir of Ord 17 Nairn 16 Wick 16 Invergordon 13 Tain 13 Alness 12 Beauly 8 Fortrose 8 Grantown-on-Spey 8
The wider picture in Highland
- 210 adults were waiting in hospital to leave in September 2026 (Public Health Scotland).
- 28,960 people are aged 75 or over, projected to be 36,984 by 2036 (National Records of Scotland).
- 38% of registered care services reported staff vacancies at 31 December 2024 (SSSC and Care Inspectorate; all types of service).
Common questions
How many care services are there in Highland?
There are 501 registered with the Care Inspectorate and listed here (data as at 30 September 2026). The same address can hold more than one registration, so this is a count of registrations, not buildings.
How are care services in Highland graded?
The Care Inspectorate grades each service from 1 (Unsatisfactory) to 6 (Excellent) on several key questions. 476 of these have published grades. For 406 of them the lowest grade is Good (4) or better, and for 18 it is Weak (2) or Unsatisfactory (1). A service with no grade has not been graded yet, which is common for new registrations.
How recently have they been inspected?
192 of the 501 were graded in the last 12 months. Each service page shows the date, because a grade describes the service on the day it was inspected.
How do I choose one?
Use the grades as a starting point, not a verdict: read the latest inspection report on the Care Inspectorate's own page for each service, visit if you can, and ask the questions that matter to you. Your council's social work department or health and social care partnership can also help. We do not recommend any one service.
Other care in Highland
Nurseries and day care for children 197 Childminders 118 Care at home services 75 Care homes 63 Housing support services 39
Source: Care Inspectorate open data under the Open Government Licence v3.0, as at 30 September 2026. Grades are never changed or estimated here. This is not a recommendation or care advice: see how to use this site and about the data.