NRS Healthcare: Insolvency

Stephen Kinnock Excerpts

Monday 1st September 2025 Written Statements

[The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)]

I would like to inform the House about an important issue concerning NRS Healthcare—also known as Nottingham Rehab Ltd —a supplier of integrated community equipment services, which became insolvent on 1st August 2025.

NRS Healthcare provided essential services and equipment such as wheelchairs, hoists, and technology that supported disabled and older people to live independently at home. This helped avoid admissions to hospitals or care homes and assisted people in returning home after leaving hospital.

Local authorities have statutory duties under the Care Act 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014 to arrange for the provision of disability aids and community equipment to meet the assessed needs of individuals in their area. While some local authorities provide these services themselves, many have contracts with external suppliers, such as NRS Healthcare. Customers of these services also include the NHS, private customers, pharmacies, and other adult social care and healthcare settings.

Before their insolvency, 44 local authorities had contracts with NRS Healthcare and relied on their services. NRS Healthcare supplied around 50% of hospitals with equipment used in adult social care across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Since the company filed for insolvency, the court has appointed an official receiver as the liquidator, supported by special managers, who are overseeing the wind-down of operations, managing the company's assets, and ensuring that statutory duties and obligations to creditors and people who draw on these services are met. The official receiver is an independent officer of the court required by law to carry out these duties.

As part of the liquidation process, the Government have made available short-term funding to the official receiver to cover the essential operating costs of NRS Healthcare and its affiliated companies. This funding has ensured that trading was able to continue for a limited time, to minimise disruption by providing crucial time for local authorities to put alternative supply in place. The use of this funding, should it be necessary, will be subject to robust scrutiny and governance by the Government and the insolvency office holders. The final cost to HM Government will be known when the insolvency process is complete. Costs will be reported in the DHSC annual report and accounts.

The Government have also provided the official receiver with a legal indemnity to protect them against financial loss or legal claims incurred while carrying out their duties. This indemnity is unlimited and will remain in place until the official receiver’s services are no longer required. The indemnity is a standard mechanism in high-risk or complex insolvencies where appointees are expected to act in the national interest without undue risk to the appointees. Crystallisation is expected to be limited.

Without the Government providing the above support, there was a risk that the official receiver would have had no choice but to close services immediately following their appointment, in line with their statutory duties. This could have had an immediate and significant impact on hospital flow and the safety of people in the community who relied on NRS Healthcare’s services.

These measures were therefore essential to enable the official receiver to discharge their duties for the benefits of creditors and protect public spending by avoiding additional hospital admissions or preventing discharge to care settings, while minimising risk to vulnerable people who previously relied on NRS Healthcare’s services. If the liability is called, provision for any payment will be sought through the normal supply procedure. The Treasury has approved this arrangement.

My officials in the Department of Health and Social Care are continuing to monitor the situation closely and will continue to do so until its conclusion.

We would like to acknowledge and thank all colleagues, particularly those in HMT, UKGI, MHCLG, NHS England, and Partners in Care and Health—a sector support programme funded by DHSC—for their efforts throughout this challenging period. Their support leading up to, and following the insolvency in brokering discussions, sharing vital information, and helping local authorities prepare and respond has been invaluable in minimising disruption and protecting those who rely on these essential services.

[HCWS896]