The personalisation of residential care services is based on three broad principles of valuing personal identity, empowering resident decision-making and fostering care relationships. We analysed 50 Care Quality Commission care home inspection reports to identify factors that the reports indicate facilitate or hinder the delivery of personalised residential care in England. Findings suggest that the provision of personalised services is affected by staff skills, attitudes and availability, as well as the quality of care home leadership. Future care policy should consider addressing external pressures facing the care home sector, including inadequate funding and too few staff, to mitigate barriers to delivering high-quality, personalised care.