Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposed local authority care fee uplifts below the minimum price for homecare on the sustainability of the domiciliary care market.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes negotiating fees individually with care providers, including in the domiciliary market, to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.

We expect local authorities to pay sustainable fee rates that meet the costs of delivering care, which is why the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund provided over £1 billion for adult social care to local authorities over 2025/26. This can be used to target increasing fee rates paid to adult social care.