News from The Care Provider Alliance – January 2026
Hopefully you are now aware that, as part of December’s Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for England: 2026-2027 to 2028-2029, the government has made around £4.6 billion additional funding available for adult social care in 2028/29, compared to 2025/26. Adult social care funding is also being simplified – to give local government more flexibility – and redistributed to where it is needed most.
The CPA has now published our new annual local authority priority-setting document ‘Adult social care priorities for local authorities – GOV.UK’. This publication sets out clear priority outcomes and expectations for local authorities’ delivery of adult social care from 2026/27, to support local decision-making and progress towards a National Care Service.
It also includes the methodology for how DHSC will calculate adult social care notional allocations for local authorities with adult social care responsibilities over the next 3 years. Notional allocations will not be ringfences or spend expectations; they are intended to be used as a reference point to support local budget setting, and in conjunction with the adult social care priorities and expectations, to inform local decisions about adult social care spending. We will be publishing the notional allocation figures for each local authority in early 2026 and will let you know once published.
We recognise that successful delivery of our priority outcomes and aim of moving towards a National Care Service requires central government, local government and other local partners including care providers, to work together. The publication therefore sets out how DHSC will engage with local authorities in-year to develop a shared understanding of local and national progress towards this vision. The publication is not a form of statutory guidance, nor a replacement for local authorities’ Care Act 2014 duties; the priority outcomes and expectations outlined are designed to help support local authorities’ in delivering their statutory duties.