Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to employer National Insurance contributions on private nursing homes.

The Government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care as part of the wider consideration of local government spending within the Spending Review process in 2024.

To enable local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government is making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes an £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant.

The additional funding available to Wigan in 2025/26 means that they will see an increase to their core spending power of up to 9.0% in cash terms.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population, which is why, under the Care Act 2014, they are tasked with the duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all local people.