Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what financial assessment they have made to determine if the £600 million of grant funding for social care in 2025–26 will be sufficient to cover the cost of increased employer National Insurance contributions to social care providers.

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. This assessment took into account a wide range of factors, including changes to employer National Insurance contributions, and the National Living Wage increases.

In response to the range of pressures facing local authorities, the Government is providing a real-terms uplift to core local government spending power of approximately 3.2%, which includes £1.3 billion of new grant funding in 2025/26.