Policy paper
Adult social care priorities for local authorities
Sets out national priority outcomes, expectations and notional allocations for local authorities that deliver adult social care services.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
The government has 3 objectives for adult social care. These are to:
- radically improve the quality of care and support
- enable people to have more choice and control over their care and support
- strengthen the join-up between health and social care services
This publication:
- sets out the government’s expectations for local authorities, from the 2026 to 2027 financial year onwards, to achieve these objectives and pave the way towards creating a national care service
- outlines the methodology that the Department of Health and Social Care has used to calculate new adult social care notional allocations for all local authorities over the next 3 years to support their budget-setting, and the associated figures for each local authority
- explains how the Department of Health and Social Care will draw on data and engagement with local authorities to understand how local progress is being made towards these expectations
Updates to this page
Published 18 December 2025
Last updated 21 January 2026
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Updated 'Adult social care priorities for local authorities: 2026 to 2027' now that January 2026 figures have been published. Updated 'Annex B' with allocation figures.
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First published.