For a 50-staff care home in the South East of England, managed IT support typically costs between £3,000 and £6,000 per month. Most care providers pay £60 to £120 per active IT account per month, depending on the level of support, security, and compliance required.
Although a home may employ 50 staff, the number of active IT accounts and connected devices is often significantly higher than expected once shared systems, Wi-Fi infrastructure, security appliances, and backup hardware are included.
That monthly fee usually includes reactive helpdesk support for your team, proactive systems monitoring, Microsoft 365 management, cyber security protection, and support with compliance requirements. Costs increase if you need round-the-clock support, enhanced security monitoring, or connectivity across multiple homes.
Although pricing is calculated per active IT account rather than total headcount, using staff numbers gives you a realistic budgeting benchmark.
For care providers operating on tight margins, understanding what drives those costs makes planning much easier.
What’s Typically Included in £60 to £120 Per Staff Account?
At this level, most care homes can expect comprehensive day-to-day support, including:
- Unlimited remote helpdesk support for carers, nurses, and admin teams
- 24/7 system monitoring to spot and respond issues before they disrupt care
- Microsoft 365 licensing and management
- Cyber security protection including at least:
- Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
- 24/7 Managed Detection and Response service (MDR)
- Conditional Multi-Factor Authentication configuration
- Regular updates and security patching
- Security awareness training for your staff
- Secure data backup and recovery systems, and disaster recovery planning
- Guidance on GDPR, Cyber Essentials, Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT), and inspection readiness
- Optional Onsite engineer visits either routinely, or when required, with agreed response times
In practice, this means your team can access care planning systems, medication records, email, and shared files without constant technical disruption. It also means someone is proactively watching your systems, rather than waiting for something to fail.
| Managed IT (Per-User Model) | Traditional Break-Fix Model |
| 24/7 proactive monitoring | Issues addressed after failure |
| Security patching included | Updates billed as project work |
| Compliance guidance included | Consultancy charged separately |
| Predictable monthly fee | Variable, reactive invoices |
| Security tools standardised | Add-ons charged individually |
What Increases the Monthly Cost?
Not every care provider has the same needs. The following factors may mean your costs are toward the higher end of the range:
- Supporting multiple care home locations
- 24/7 support requirements for night teams
- Enhanced cyber security monitoring and reporting
- Regular network security testing
- Business-grade firewalls and secure Wi-Fi for staff and residents
- Routine site visits by an engineer
- Integrating your phone system with your IT and internet connection
- Backup internet connections to maintain access to digital care systems
For example, adding full 24/7 support can increase monthly costs by around 15 to 25 percent, depending on response time commitments and coverage expectations.
For domiciliary care providers, mobile device management and secure remote access for field staff can also influence pricing.
The key is aligning support with operational risk. A single-site residential home has different requirements from a group operating across Sussex and neighbouring counties.
Hidden Costs Care Homes Should Avoid
Many care providers move to managed IT support after experiencing unpredictable billing. Common hidden costs in the wider market include:
- Break-fix hourly rates, often £100 to £150 per hour
- Separate project fees for upgrades or migrations
- Compliance advice billed as consultancy rather than included support
- Markups on Microsoft and security licensing
- After-hours call-out charges
These costs can escalate quickly, especially during an incident or before a CQC inspection.
A fixed monthly support model gives clarity. You know what you are paying each month, and you are not hesitant to call for help because of an hourly meter running in the background.
What Does Downtime Actually Cost a Care Home?
Even short periods of IT disruption can have a noticeable impact.
Consider a simple example:
If 15 staff members rely on digital care records, medication systems, email, or rota platforms during a disruption, and those systems are unavailable for just three hours, that represents 45 hours of delayed or disrupted administrative time.
At an estimated fully loaded cost of £20 per hour, that equates to approximately £900 in direct productivity impact. That figure does not include the time it takes to catch-up after an outage, and the longer-term reputational damage or regulatory scrutiny. Add the impact on medication administration records, handovers, or safeguarding documentation, and the operational strain becomes clear.
There is also regulatory risk. If digital care systems are unavailable during an inspection or safeguarding review, questions will be asked about resilience and data protection. Under GDPR, serious data breaches can carry fines of up to 4 percent of annual turnover.
Downtime is rarely just an inconvenience. In care, it can affect service delivery, compliance, and resident trust.
How to Choose the Right IT Support Provider for Your Care Home
Price matters, but reliability and sector understanding matter more.
When evaluating an IT partner to provide IT support for your care home or domiciliary care service, look for:
- Experience working specifically with care providers
- Strong understanding of GDPR, Cyber Essentials Plus, Data Security Protection Toolkit (DSPT), and CQC expectations
- Clear service level agreements, including urgent response targets such as a 10-minute response for critical issues
- Transparent monthly pricing with no hidden extras
- Engineers based locally for faster onsite support
- Practical understanding of digital care planning systems and secure remote working
The right provider should understand the pressures registered managers and directors face. IT support should reduce stress, not introduce more complexity.
Why PS Tech?
PS Tech supports care providers across Sussex, Kent, Surrey, and South London with sector-focused IT services.
- Local engineers who understand regional care groups
- Cyber Essentials Plus Certified security standards
- 10-minute urgent response targets for critical incidents
- Microsoft 365 expertise tailored to regulated environments
- A compliance-focused approach aligned with care sector expectations
- Fixed, transparent monthly pricing
Our role is to keep your systems reliable, your data secure, and your team supported, so you can focus on delivering safe, high-quality care.
If you would like a tailored cost estimate for your care home or domiciliary care service in Sussex, Kent, Surrey, or South London, we can provide a clear per-user breakdown based on your current systems and risk profile.
