Care homes and supported housing: C2 or C3
Extra care, supported living and care homes sit somewhere between C2 and C3. The classification is a question of fact, and it changes what the scheme has to pay.
The line between Class C2 and Class C3 decides how much a scheme pays and what it has to provide. Class C2 covers residential accommodation and care to people in need of care, together with residential schools, colleges and training centres and hospitals and nursing homes. Class C3 covers dwellinghouses. A c2 or c3 use class argument is really an argument about affordable housing, levy liability and the planning obligations that follow, because the physical building is often the same either way.
Nobody disputes the classification of a registered nursing home. The difficulty lives in the middle ground, where a scheme provides self-contained flats with a care service attached.
What Class C2 covers
The class has two limbs that matter here. Residential accommodation and care to people in need of care, other than a use within Class C3. And residential schools, colleges and training centres.
Care is defined in the Order as personal care for people in need of it, including care for old age, disablement, past or present dependence on alcohol or drugs, or past or present mental disorder. The definition excludes use as a hospital or nursing home from the first limb, because those are separately named.
Two elements have to be present. Accommodation and care, delivered together to people who need the care. A building providing accommodation to older people with no care element is not C2 simply because of the age of the residents.
What keeps a scheme in Class C3
Class C3 covers use as a dwellinghouse by a single person or family, by not more than six residents living together as a single household where care is provided, and by not more than six residents living together as a single household in other cases.
That second limb matters. Small supported living arrangements for up to six residents receiving care sit within C3, which is why a supported living house in a residential street usually needs no change of use application from a previous C3 use.
Above six residents, the arrangement falls outside C3 and the question becomes whether it is C2 or a sui generis use. Our note on where the HMO line falls covers the neighbouring boundary, which uses a different set of tests.
Care packages, communal facilities and staffing
The facts that move a scheme towards C2 are consistent across decisions.
| Factor | Points towards C2 | Points towards C3 |
|---|---|---|
| Care | Minimum contracted package for every resident | Care available but optional |
| Eligibility | Assessed need for care as a condition of occupancy | Age-restricted only, or open market |
| Tenure | Licence or contract tied to the care arrangement | Leasehold sale or ordinary tenancy |
| Units | Rooms or flats without full kitchens | Self-contained flats with kitchens |
| Facilities | Communal dining, catering, assisted bathing | Communal lounge and guest suite only |
| Staffing | 24-hour care staff on site | Scheme manager during office hours |
No single line decides it. A scheme with self-contained flats can still be C2 where every resident has an assessed care need and a contracted minimum package, and where the communal provision reflects that.
The honest position is that the middle of this range is contested, and two authorities can reach different conclusions on similar schemes. That is a reason to evidence the case carefully rather than to assume the label on the brochure will carry.
Registration with the Care Quality Commission is a useful indicator and it is not decisive on its own. A registered care provider operating within a building does not make the building C2 if the residents hold ordinary tenancies of self-contained flats and the care is a service they can decline. Equally, an unregistered scheme can still be C2 where the care is personal care delivered under contract to people assessed as needing it.
What the courts and inspectors keep returning to is whether the accommodation and the care are provided together as a single arrangement, or whether they are two separate things that happen to occur in the same building.
Why the classification affects contributions
Three consequences follow, and they are the reason the argument happens at all.
Affordable housing policy in many local plans applies to C3 development, expressed as a percentage of units or floorspace. Where C2 is outside that policy, a scheme classified as C2 avoids a substantial cost. Authorities have responded by writing C2 requirements into newer plans, so the position varies by area and by plan date.
Levy liability follows the charging schedule, which sets rates by development type. Residential institutions are often charged at a different rate from dwellings, and self-contained units within a C2 scheme can be treated differently again.
Housing land supply and the Housing Delivery Test also come into it, because C2 bedspaces are counted differently from C3 dwellings. That affects the authority's incentives as much as the applicant's.
Evidence to support the chosen classification
Assert less and evidence more. The material that carries weight includes the draft occupancy agreement or tenancy, the care contract with the minimum hours specified, the staffing rota by shift, the registration position with the Care Quality Commission, the eligibility criteria for occupation, and the schedule of communal facilities with areas.
Marketing material is read closely and is frequently the weakest point. A scheme argued as C2 while being marketed as luxury retirement apartments for sale on long leases invites the obvious question.
Set the case out in the Planning Statement rather than in a covering letter, and make the description of development match. Getting the description of development right is not a formality here, because the description is what any later enforcement or discharge question will be judged against.
Where the scheme includes a C3 element, an Affordable Housing Statement should deal with that element on its own terms rather than treating the whole development as one thing.
Conditions tying occupation to care need
Where an authority accepts a C2 classification, it will normally impose a condition restricting occupation to people in need of care as defined, sometimes with an age restriction and sometimes with a minimum care package specified.
That condition is the mechanism that holds the classification in place. It binds successors, it is enforceable, and it will be checked if the scheme is later marketed differently. Operators sometimes find the wording tighter than their business model can bear, three years after the permission was granted.
Read the draft wording before it is imposed and negotiate it then. A condition requiring a minimum of two hours of care per resident per week is a different commitment from one requiring an assessed need, and the difference matters to the operator rather than to the planner.
An illustrative scheme
This example is illustrative. A development of 60 apartments for older people includes a restaurant, a wellbeing suite, a care office and staff accommodation. Every resident enters a contract for a minimum weekly care package, occupancy requires an assessed care need, and care staff are on site continuously.
Those facts support a C2 classification. Change the care package to an optional service purchased separately, sell the flats on 125-year leases with no eligibility criteria, and the same building is C3 with an affordable housing requirement attached.
Browse all 66 report types to see which documents a specialist housing application normally carries.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
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Frequently asked questions
Is extra care housing C2 or C3?
It depends on the scheme rather than the label. Extra care schemes with self-contained flats let on ordinary tenancies, where care is available but not tied to occupation, generally fall within C3. Schemes where a minimum care package is contracted with every resident, meals are provided communally and staff are on site around the clock, sit closer to C2. Many schemes are argued as a mix.
Does a C2 scheme pay affordable housing contributions?
That depends on the local plan. Many authorities apply affordable housing policy to C3 development and treat C2 separately, sometimes with no requirement and sometimes with a bespoke one. Some plans now apply a requirement to C2 explicitly. Read the adopted policy rather than assuming, and check how the authority has applied it on recent decisions.
What about the Community Infrastructure Levy?
Liability follows the charging schedule, which sets rates by development type, and schedules differ in how they treat residential institutions. Self-contained units within a C2 scheme can attract a different rate from communal accommodation. Charging schedules are indexed annually, so take rates from the authority's current published schedule.
Can a scheme be partly C2 and partly C3?
Yes, and mixed schemes are common. A building with a registered care home wing and a block of self-contained apartments can be described as a mixed development with both classes present. The description of development needs to be accurate about what is where, and the section 106 obligations usually distinguish between the two elements.
How do inspectors approach the question?
They look at the substance of the arrangement rather than the applicant's description of it. Appeal decisions on this issue have turned on whether residents receive a genuine and contracted care package, whether the units are functionally independent dwellings, and how the accommodation is marketed and let. These decisions are indicative of the approach rather than binding precedent.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.