Adult Social Care, Tobacco and Vapes Consultation, and Urgent Dental Care

Monday 23rd February 2026 Written Statements

[The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)]

I would like to inform the House of several updates from the Department of Health and Social Care over the February recess.

Social care: allowances uplift for working age adults & disabled facilities grant 2026-27

The Government have confirmed that they will be uplifting the social care allowances, which ensure that people drawing on adult social care retain sufficient income to cover essential living costs.

From 6 April 2026, these allowances will rise in line with consumer prices index inflation—3.8%—recognising pressures from rising food, clothing and utility costs. For working-age adults, we are going further: the minimum income guarantee will increase by 7%, the first above inflation rise in over a decade. This will put over £400 more a year into the pockets of more than 150,000 working-age disabled adults, or around £510 for those also receiving the disability premium.

This uplift protects disabled people on low incomes, supports greater choice and control, and forms part of our wider programme to build a stronger, fairer national care service. We will continue to work closely with local government, disabled people’s organisations and sector partners to ensure the system remains sustainable and responsive to people’s needs.

The Government can also confirm that £723 million will be made available for the disabled facilities grant in 2026-27. This grant helps eligible older and disabled people on low incomes to adapt their homes to make them safe and suitable for their needs so that they can remain independent. Practical changes include installing stairlifts, level-access showers, or ramps. The Government are also taking action to allocate disabled facilities grant funding to local authorities in England in a fairer, more evidence-based way from 2026-27, with transitional protections to allow local authorities time to adjust. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published the details of local authority allocations here. We expect funding to be distributed to local authorities in May.

Launch of consultation on smoke-free, heated tobacco-free and vape-free places in England

Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death, disability and ill health in England. Vaping is less harmful and can help adult smokers quit, but it is not without risks, and the long-term health effects are still being studied. Exposure to second-hand smoke can be particularly damaging for children, pregnant women and people with existing health conditions.

A consultation on smoke-free, heated tobacco-free and vape-free places in England is open until 6 May 2026. It sets out proposals to extend current indoor smoking restrictions to some outdoor places, specifically public children’s playgrounds, and outside certain health and social care settings and education settings.

The consultation also proposes to make indoor places that are already smoke-free places, heated tobacco-free and vape-free as well, and extending these restrictions to some outdoor places.

The consultation does not propose extending any measures to outdoor hospitality settings or private outdoor spaces.

Responses will inform the measures that are ultimately taken forward and following the consultation, we intend to make and implement secondary legislation during the course of this Parliament.

Urgent dentistry appointments

The Government are committed to ensuring people can access urgent dental care when they need it. Over the past year, integrated care boards have been commissioning additional urgent dental appointments and there is now an urgent care safety net available in all areas of the country.

From April 2026, we will cement our commitment to urgent care by making it a requirement for high street dentists to offer a minimum number of urgent appointments, including to patients who are new to the practice.

We have listened to clinical advice from the chief dental officer for England, as well as feedback from the sector that the current definition of the national target, focused on clinically urgent care, is too narrow and has meant that some patients with serious and ongoing needs are still missing out.

We will therefore broaden the scope of our pledge to deliver not just additional urgent appointments, but more appointments of all types. This will open up capacity to more patients, preventing people resorting to DIY dentistry, while retaining the urgent care safety net.

Data published on Thursday 19 February shows that the NHS delivered an extra 1.8 million courses of dental treatment over the first seven months of 2025-26 compared to the same period in the year up to the general election and almost half of these were delivered to children.

[HCWS1345]