Guidance

Accelerating Reform Fund for adult social care

Information on the £42.6 million Accelerating Reform Fund to boost quality and accessibility of adult social care in England.

Applies to England

Documents

Accelerating Reform Fund: draft memorandum of understanding (MOU)

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Details

This guidance is for local authorities.

In October 2023, the Minister of State for Care wrote to all local authorities to set out the department’s priorities for innovation and scaling in adult social care. The aim of the Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF) is to support the adoption or scaling of projects that deliver these priorities.

In order to participate, local authorities are asked to form consortia with other local authorities in their integrated care system (ICS) geography. Then, working together with the NHS and other partners, consortia should select 2 or more projects to take forward, with one project focused on unpaid carers.

This guidance document provides details on the:

  • process for accessing the fund
  • support offer from the Social Care Institute for Excellence
  • funding distribution approach
  • expectations during the funding period
  • evaluation approach

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Accelerating Reform Fund sets out the working relationship and expectations relating to the grant. This template has been published for reference only during the expression of interest (EOI) stage. Following the EOI process, the MOU will be agreed with the lead local authority of each consortium.

Published 24 October 2023
Last updated 21 December 2023 + show all updates
  1. Added draft MOU to the page.

  2. Added: text and table under the new heading: 'Local authority indicative allocations'.

  3. Updated the guidance to say that joint expressions of interest (EOIs) should also include all local authorities within the 2 ICSs that wish to opt into the fund.

  4. First published.