Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential cumulative impact of changes to (a) the National Living Wage, (b) employers' National Insurance contributions and (c) the recruitment of overseas social care workers on independent adult social care providers.

The Government took the cost pressures facing adult social care, including independent providers, into account as part of the wider consideration of local government funding at the Spending Review.

The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement confirmed that the Government is making available approximately £4.6 billion of additional funding for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26. This includes £500 million for the first-ever Fair Pay Agreement, the most significant investment in improving pay and conditions for adult social care staff to date.