Annex A: provisional reporting templates and guidance
Published 2 May 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/market-sustainability-and-improvement-fund-2025-to-2026/annex-a-provisional-reporting-templates-and-guidance
Paragraphs 1.16 and 1.17 of the main guidance set out what local authorities must submit as part of the initial and final 2025 to 2026 reports.
This section provides further detail on the Excel reporting templates local authorities must complete and return to DHSC by the deadlines specified below, to fulfil the requirements of the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) in 2025 to 2026.
A final version of the initial reporting template can be found on the GOV.UK landing page for this guidance. The final reporting template for 2025 to 2026 will be shared with local authorities in advance of the submission deadline.
Completed templates should be submitted to DHSC by emailing msifcorrespondence@dhsc.gov.uk with the document attached.
Initial 2025 to 2026 reporting template
Local authorities must complete and return the initial reporting template to DHSC by 11:59pm on 11 June 2025
Local authorities must provide information regarding the spend return and the reporting metrics for the fees target area using the initial reporting template. The information submitted as part of this initial report will provide the baseline against which local authority performance will be measured in the final report in May 2026.
To minimise the reporting burden on local authorities, the initial 2025 to 2026 reporting template is in the same Excel file as the final 2024 to 2025 reporting template. Please read the instructions in the first tab of the file, which will direct you to part 2 (the blue tabs - from sheet 8 onwards).
The tables below show what the initial reporting template asks local authorities to complete.
Blank cells in the tables indicate where a local authority should provide an answer.
Adding your spend return
Table 1a: select your local authority from the drop-down list
| Description | Data item |
|---|---|
| Local authority name | |
| Total MSIF funding allocation | Financial amount [Automatically populated] |
| Name of individual completing this return | |
| Email address |
Table 1a shows the sections that local authorities need to complete for the spend return section of the initial reporting template. These are:
- local authority name
- name of individual completing this return
- email address
The funding allocation for the local authority chosen will then auto-populate.
Table 1b: confirm whether the MSIF funding has been allocated in full to adult social care
| Description | Data item |
|---|---|
| Select response | Yes or no |
Table 1b shows that local authorities need to select ‘yes’ or ‘no’ under ‘Data item’ to confirm whether their 2025 to 2026 MSIF funding has been allocated in full to adult social care.
Table 1c: confirm your expected administration costs
| Description | Data item (£) |
|---|---|
| Administrative costs of the fund |
Table 1c shows that local authorities need to provide, under ‘Data item (£)’, their expected administration costs as part of MSIF for 2025 to 2026.
Reporting fee rates
Table 2a: report your average external provider fee rate for the service types
| Service type | Final average fee rate for 2024 to 2025 (£) | Provisional average fee rate for 2025 to 2026 (£) | Implied percentage uplift between 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 and over home care (£ per contact hour) | [Automatically calculated] | ||
| 65 and over care homes without nursing (£ per client per week) | [Automatically calculated] | ||
| 65 and over care homes with nursing (£ per client per week) | [Automatically calculated] | ||
| 18 to 64 care homes without nursing (£ per client per week) | [Automatically calculated] | ||
| 18 to 64 care homes with nursing (£ per client per week) | [Automatically calculated] | ||
| 18 and over supported living (£ per blended hour, reflecting core and additional hours) | [Automatically calculated] |
Table 2a shows that local authorities need to provide their final average fee rate for 2024 to 2025 and provisional average fee rate for 2025 to 2026 across different service types.
Detail any other fee uplifts not described by the categories above.
If possible, provide the same information for these other fee uplifts as asked for in table 2a above. Alternatively, local authorities may wish to provide a link to their published ‘rate card’.
Note: the template will include a text box for comments (maximum 1,000 characters).
Reporting workforce capacity and retention
As detailed in the main MSIF guidance, the data for the workforce capacity and retention target area will be reported using Capacity Tracker, as in 2024 to 2025. There is therefore no requirement for local authorities to report workforce data using this template, since it will be collected directly from providers.
To ensure good data coverage and quality, local authorities are asked to encourage their providers to complete their Capacity Tracker returns.
Should the local authority wish to provide additional context on their return, such as planned activities to boost workforce capacity and retention, they should use the text box provided to do so (maximum 1,000 characters).
Reporting waiting times
As detailed in the guidance, the waiting times metric will be derived using data submitted by local authorities to client level data (CLD), as in 2024 to 2025. Local authorities are therefore reminded of the importance of completing their CLD returns in an accurate and timely manner.
Should the local authority wish to provide additional context on their return, such as planned activities to reduce waiting times, they should use the text box below to do so (maximum 1,000 characters).
Final 2025 to 2026 reporting template
Local authorities must complete and return the final 2025 to 2026 reporting template to DHSC by 11:59pm on 20 May 2026
The final reporting template will ask local authorities to provide updated information on each of the metrics collected in the initial report in June 2025. The department will use this information to measure performance against the relevant target areas. The final 2025 to 2026 report is intended to follow the same general format and structure as the initial report set out above.