The National Care Forum (NCF) – the leading association for not-for-profit social care has responded to the announcements made today by the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the publication of the Local Government Finance Settlement.  

Measures relating to adult social care include: 

• £5.9 billion will be provided through the Social Care Grant, supporting both adult and children’s social care – whilst equalising for the adult social care precept. This is an increase of £880 million compared to 2024-25. 

• £2.6 billion will be distributed through the Local Authority Better Care Grant 

• £1.05 billion in 2025-26 will be distributed for adult social care through the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) 

Vic Rayner, NCF CEO commented: “While we welcome the additional funding of £880 million for adults and children’s social care, this won’t cover the increased costs for adult social care providers resulting from the Autumn budget.  The costs of the Budget for social care have been estimated by Nuffield Trust to be £2.8bn.   

“Care and support providers have told us very clearly about the looming impact of the additional employer NICs contributions and the increase in the National Living Wage. Key findings from a survey of care providers carried out by the Care Provider Alliance laid bare the impact. 73% of respondents said they would need to refuse to accept new packages of care from councils or the NHS and 64% would need to let staff go.  Clearly the scale of the financial challenge facing adult care and support providers is simply much greater than the additional funding announced today; £880m for both adult and children’s social care is not going to provide sufficient funding to enable local authorities to meet the increased costs that providers face as a direct result of the Budget.  

“This inability to recognise and understand the importance of care and support in millions of people’s lives every day is incredibly disappointing and this settlement will do little to address the urgent issue of unmet need. There are an estimated 418,029 people currently waiting for a care and support assessment to allow them to stay at home, living well with choice and independence. This figure only represents people that Local Authorities are aware of.  

“Social care is a public service employing 1.6 million people which contributes £68.1 billion annually into the English economy and keeps people in work and contributing to the economy while also maintaining the country’s physical and mental wellbeing. Its role in helping the government achieve its missions is self-evident but despite the rhetoric we have heard from minsters, there exists a lack of understanding, or an unwillingness to make social care central to policy making.   

“We join other voices in urging Treasury officials to exempt social care and support providers from these increases in employers NIC, or alternatively to fully fund the increased costs.  This must be followed up at the June spending review with significant investment in the longer-term reform of adult social care. Only by taking these steps can the government turn rhetoric into action, prove themselves willing to tackle the difficult issues and transform social care for the millions who depend on it and work tirelessly to provide it”.