Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund Grant Determination 2025 to 2026
Published 14 May 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
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Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund Grant Determination (2025-26): No 31/7798.
The Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution (“the Minister”), in exercise of the powers conferred by section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, makes the following determination:
Citation
1. This determination may be cited as the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund Grant Determination (2025-26): No 31/7798.
Purpose of the grant
2. The purpose of the grant is to provide support to local authorities in England towards expenditure lawfully incurred or to be incurred by them. Its primary purpose in 2025 to 2026 is to support local authorities to maintain existing improvements made since the fund began in 2023 to 2024, within the fund target areas. This funding is also expected to support local authorities to, where possible, seek further improvements to adult social care services in their area, in particular to build capacity and improve market sustainability through increasing fee rates paid to adult social care providers, increasing workforce capacity and retention, and reducing waiting times for adult social care.
Determination
3. The Minister determines as the authorities to which grant is to be paid and the amount of grant to be paid, the authorities and amounts which are set out in Annex A.
4. The grant will be paid in monthly instalments.
Grant conditions
5. Pursuant to section 31(4) of the Local Government Act 2003, the Minister determines that the grant will be paid subject to the conditions specified in Annex B.
Treasury consent
6. Before making this determination in relation to local authorities in England, the Minister of State obtained the consent of the Treasury.
Signed by authority of the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution.
Suzanne Kochanowski, Deputy Director, Care, Reform and Grants
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
May 2025
Annex A - Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund allocations to local authorities 2025 to 2026
| Local authority* | Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund total allocations to local authorities 2025 to 2026 |
|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | £3,994,643 |
| Barnet | £6,332,764 |
| Barnsley | £5,418,004 |
| Bath and North East Somerset | £3,192,668 |
| Bedford | £2,716,053 |
| Bexley | £4,061,639 |
| Birmingham | £24,501,292 |
| Blackburn with Darwen | £3,344,322 |
| Blackpool | £3,953,620 |
| Bolton | £6,081,698 |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | £7,655,786 |
| Bracknell Forest | £1,583,032 |
| Bradford | £10,050,291 |
| Brent | £5,875,786 |
| Brighton and Hove | £5,375,388 |
| Bristol | £8,874,101 |
| Bromley | £5,208,242 |
| Buckinghamshire | £7,312,018 |
| Bury | £3,573,110 |
| Calderdale | £4,027,699 |
| Cambridgeshire | £10,167,747 |
| Camden | £5,625,209 |
| Central Bedfordshire | £3,788,628 |
| Cheshire East | £6,346,539 |
| Cheshire West and Chester | £6,419,083 |
| City of London | £213,459 |
| Cornwall | £12,221,055 |
| Coventry | £6,785,896 |
| Croydon | £6,130,859 |
| Cumberland | £6,078,276 |
| Darlington | £2,192,627 |
| Derby | £5,024,989 |
| Derbyshire | £15,869,463 |
| Devon | £15,642,954 |
| Doncaster | £6,605,724 |
| Dorset | £7,467,053 |
| Dudley | £6,832,090 |
| Durham | £12,347,893 |
| Ealing | £6,201,862 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | £6,326,111 |
| East Sussex | £11,312,222 |
| Enfield | £5,681,530 |
| Essex | £25,897,787 |
| Gateshead | £4,958,120 |
| Gloucestershire | £11,068,681 |
| Greenwich | £5,819,960 |
| Hackney | £6,146,889 |
| Halton | £2,796,203 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | £4,017,917 |
| Hampshire | £20,800,924 |
| Haringey | £5,023,385 |
| Harrow | £4,242,999 |
| Hartlepool | £2,192,415 |
| Havering | £4,399,863 |
| Herefordshire | £3,852,684 |
| Hertfordshire | £18,088,066 |
| Hillingdon | £4,554,845 |
| Hounslow | £4,372,120 |
| Isle of Wight | £3,353,067 |
| Isles of Scilly | £55,392 |
| Islington | £5,625,764 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | £3,792,275 |
| Kent | £26,969,400 |
| Kingston upon Hull | £6,356,626 |
| Kingston upon Thames | £2,507,658 |
| Kirklees | £8,136,981 |
| Knowsley | £4,274,619 |
| Lambeth | £6,601,509 |
| Lancashire | £24,141,914 |
| Leeds | £14,484,441 |
| Leicester | £6,885,105 |
| Leicestershire | £10,562,332 |
| Lewisham | £5,984,484 |
| Lincolnshire | £14,734,780 |
| Liverpool | £12,937,346 |
| Luton | £3,448,046 |
| Manchester | £11,663,968 |
| Medway | £4,365,687 |
| Merton | £3,272,106 |
| Middlesbrough | £3,315,976 |
| Milton Keynes | £3,972,841 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £6,566,135 |
| Newham | £6,424,307 |
| Norfolk | £18,281,716 |
| North East Lincolnshire | £3,411,231 |
| North Lincolnshire | £3,329,021 |
| North Northamptonshire | £5,521,656 |
| North Somerset | £4,042,261 |
| North Tyneside | £4,510,961 |
| North Yorkshire | £10,603,254 |
| Northumberland | £6,656,353 |
| Nottingham | £6,781,371 |
| Nottinghamshire | £15,430,932 |
| Oldham | £4,910,300 |
| Oxfordshire | £10,025,551 |
| Peterborough | £3,472,268 |
| Plymouth | £5,617,957 |
| Portsmouth | £3,895,575 |
| Reading | £2,491,572 |
| Redbridge | £4,882,396 |
| Redcar and Cleveland | £3,150,984 |
| Richmond upon Thames | £2,891,184 |
| Rochdale | £4,849,068 |
| Rotherham | £5,885,631 |
| Rutland | £593,776 |
| Salford | £5,764,798 |
| Sandwell | £8,084,685 |
| Sefton | £6,671,373 |
| Sheffield | £11,835,528 |
| Shropshire | £6,097,977 |
| Slough | £2,255,107 |
| Solihull | £3,807,808 |
| Somerset | £10,926,856 |
| South Gloucestershire | £4,090,824 |
| South Tyneside | £4,004,265 |
| Southampton | £4,853,564 |
| Southend-on-Sea | £3,605,002 |
| Southwark | £6,871,583 |
| St. Helens | £4,212,493 |
| Staffordshire | £15,496,094 |
| Stockport | £5,614,067 |
| Stockton-on-Tees | £3,697,919 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | £5,827,044 |
| Suffolk | £14,268,622 |
| Sunderland | £6,859,027 |
| Surrey | £17,476,538 |
| Sutton | £3,225,610 |
| Swindon | £3,365,493 |
| Tameside | £5,048,908 |
| Telford and Wrekin | £3,387,521 |
| Thurrock | £2,862,144 |
| Torbay | £3,625,036 |
| Tower Hamlets | £6,409,220 |
| Trafford | £4,137,458 |
| Wakefield | £7,213,830 |
| Walsall | £6,264,233 |
| Waltham Forest | £4,763,028 |
| Wandsworth | £5,676,370 |
| Warrington | £3,603,851 |
| Warwickshire | £9,776,305 |
| West Berkshire | £2,191,427 |
| Westmorland and Furness | £4,890,820 |
| West Northamptonshire | £6,365,690 |
| West Sussex | £14,452,602 |
| Westminster | £5,788,821 |
| Wigan | £6,965,975 |
| Wiltshire | £7,975,904 |
| Windsor and Maidenhead | £2,084,500 |
| Wirral | £7,876,618 |
| Wokingham | £1,756,952 |
| Wolverhampton | £6,022,088 |
| Worcestershire | £10,432,735 |
| York | £3,201,628 |
| Total | £1,050,000,000 |
*Funding paid to local authorities with responsibility for social care only
Allocations may not sum to exact totals due to rounding.
Annex B - grant conditions
In this annex:
- “the Department” means the Department of Health and Social Care
-
“fee rate” means the rate determined and paid by a local authority to providers for care and support services
-
“grant” means the amounts set out in Annex A for each recipient authority
- “recipient authority” means the relevant local authority as listed on Annex A to this determination
- “Minister” means the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution
This grant determination is supported by the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund 2025 to 2026 guidance that sets out further detail on the grant and recipient authorities’ responsibilities in administering it.
Use of the grant
1. The first condition is that the recipient authority must allocate its full grant allocation to adult social care, as part of an increase in planned adult social care spending as set out in the supporting guidance.
2. The second condition is that the fund must be used towards maintaining existing improvements made since the fund began in 2023 to 2024. In addition to this condition, the government’s expectation is that local authorities should use this funding to, where possible, seek further improvements, in any of the target areas in 2025 to 2026.
3. The target areas are the priority areas, as specified by the Department, to improve through use of the grant. The Department will monitor these areas through specified performance metrics in order to assess the improvements made since the fund began.
The target areas are:
- increasing fee rates paid to adult social care providers in local areas
- increasing adult social care workforce capacity and retention
- reducing adult social care waiting times
a) Further information on each of the target areas is provided in the supporting guidance. Local authorities are best placed to choose between these 3 target areas depending on their circumstances. Local authorities will want to particularly consider the importance of fee rates for market sustainability given the pressures facing providers.
b) Recipient authorities should maintain existing improvements made since the fund began and, as such, must report on all the performance metrics as set out in the supporting guidance provided by the Department.
c) The Department will provide guidance, templates, and ongoing support to help authorities meet the grant conditions and achieve the purpose of the funding as set out in paragraph 2 of the grant determination.
4. The third condition is that recipient authorities must provide:
a) An initial report by 11:59pm on 11 June 2025 which must include:
i) Confirmation that the recipient authority’s share of the grant has been allocated in full to adult social care;
ii) Reporting of all the required performance metrics specified in the guidance.
b) A final report by 11:59pm on 20 May 2026 which must include:
i) Confirmation that the grant has been spent in full on adult social care;
ii) A record of all the performance metrics specified in the guidance.
c) Recipient authorities should make use of any templates provided by the Department.
5. The fourth condition is that local authorities must share a link to their published Market Position Statement (MPS) or another similar published document containing information about market strategy and management if they don’t have an MPS. This should be provided to DHSC by 11:59pm on 20 May 2026. This condition replaces the MSIF capacity plan reporting requirement condition that was in place previously. More information can be found in the supporting guidance.
6. Final templates for the initial and final report will be provided by the Department in due course. Final reports must be approved by the recipient authority’s chief executive or s151 officer. To assist the recipient authority with the additional cost of completing the returns, it may use up to £1,000 of their overall grant allocation to complete these returns, which cannot be exceeded.
7. The contact details for submitting the returns at conditions 3 and 4 are: MSIFCorrespondence@dhsc.gov.uk. The Department reserves the right to provide for a later date for submission, update the means by which returns are submitted, and may provide alternative methods for submission in future.
8. Where a recipient authority fails to evidence that improvements have been maintained since the fund began in 2023 to 2024, officials from the Department may engage with the recipient authority to gain further information and understanding, and what additional support may be required to meet the grant conditions. This may include asking the recipient authority to provide more performance data or repeat exercises.
9. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care may at any time require a further external validation to be carried out by an appropriately qualified independent accountant or auditor, on the use of the grant.
Payment arrangements
10. The grant funding set out in Annex A will be paid in monthly instalments. The Minister reserves the right to alter the timing or amount of grants payments.
11. Funding from the grant must be spent within the designated financial year. If any funding from the grant is not spent within the designated financial year, the Minister may require repayment of the grant monies paid, as may be determined by the Minister and notified in writing to the recipient authority.
Financial management
12. A recipient authority must maintain a sound system of internal financial controls.
13. If a recipient authority has any grounds for suspecting financial irregularity in the use of any grant paid under this funding agreement, it must notify the Department immediately, explain what steps are being taken to investigate the suspicion and keep the Department informed about the progress of the investigation. For these purposes “financial irregularity” includes fraud or other impropriety, mismanagement, and the use of grant for purposes other than those for which it was provided.
Breach of conditions and withholding future funding
14. If the recipient authority fails to comply with any of these conditions, or if any overpayment is made under this grant, or any amount is paid in error, or any unspent funding is not returned, the Minister may reduce, suspend or withhold grant payments or require the repayment of the whole or any part of the grant monies paid, as may be determined by the Minister and notified in writing to the recipient authority. Such sum as has been notified will immediately become repayable to the Minister who may offset the sum against any future amount due to the recipient authority from central government.
15. The list below contains examples of a breach of the grant conditions:
a) Inappropriate use of funding, or no evidence of funding having been spent on the specified purpose.
b) Failure to submit one or more of the documents as specified in paragraphs 3 to 4, and/or submission of incomplete documents, and/or documents that are not submitted by the deadline.
c) No maintenance of any improvements made since the fund began in 2023 to 2024. In this case, as set out in Condition 2 above, the Department will take steps to provide authorities with the opportunity to explain how they have used the funding and any additional context before considering further measures.