Official Statistics

Deferred payment agreements, England, 2024 to 2025: background, quality and methodology

Published 29 January 2026

Applies to England

Introduction

This publication presents an overview of the number and associated monetary value of adult social care deferred payment agreements (DPAs) in England for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. This information is collected from councils with adult social services responsibilities (CASSRs) in England, which will be referred to as local authorities throughout this report.

This document presents information on data collection, data quality, the background of DPAs and how the statistics should be used. For the statistical commentary and data tables, see the Deferred payment agreements, England: 2024 to 2025 page.

The DPA report was previously published by NHS England.

Deferred payment agreements

A DPA is an arrangement with the local authority that enables individuals to use the value of their home to delay paying the costs of the care and support they draw on either in a care home or in supported living accommodation. If eligible, the local authority will help to pay a client’s care home bills on their behalf. The costs are later recovered by the local authority, generally from the sale of the home.

Although DPAs have existed for some time, the Care Act 2014 extended the deferred payments scheme so that it is now available throughout England. All local authorities are required to offer DPAs to people who meet certain criteria. Local authorities are also encouraged to offer the scheme more widely to anyone they feel would benefit but does not fully meet the criteria. DPAs with clients who meet the eligibility criteria are referred to as ‘mandatory’ and those with clients who enter a DPA without meeting the criteria are called ‘discretionary’.

DPAs can be:

• loan style, where the client pays the care provider and the local authority loans them the cost of their care in instalments
• traditional style, where the local authority pays the care home directly and defers part of the charge against the value of the property

DPAs can also be provided with a top-up. If a client chooses to enter a care home costing more than their personal budget, they can top up any additional residential care payments from their own resources.

DPAs are the main protection against people being forced to sell their home during their lifetime to pay for social care. However, they can also be used in other circumstances. For example, a DPA may be requested as a bridging loan while somebody arranges to sell their home.

See the NHS page on self-funding care for more information on the DPA scheme.

Data collection and coverage

The statistics are derived from the DPA return which local authorities in England submit to NHS England. This is an annual data return which collects information on:

• the number of new, outstanding, written off and recovered DPAs (DPA001)
• the value of new, outstanding, written off and recovered DPAs (DPA002)
• new requests for DPAs and their outcomes (DPA003)
• the nature of current DPAs (DPA004)
• the recovery of ended DPAs (DPA005)

Data submitted in the DPA return applies to adults aged 18 and over only. The client’s age is calculated from when the agreement was signed. All data applies only to agreements which have been fully agreed and signed off or where a final decision has been made. No sex or gender information is collected for individuals in the DPA return.

The guidance and a copy of the tables for each data collection are available on the NHS England social care collection materials page. No changes were made to this year’s data collection relative to 2024 to 2025. Changes to upcoming data collections can be seen in the most recent September notice.

The DPA data collection was introduced in 2015 to 2016 on a voluntary basis. In 2016 to 2017 the data collection was part mandatory and became fully mandatory in 2017 to 2018. All sections within the return are mandatory.

This publication provides analysis of the DPA data collection for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Statistical disclosure control methods

To prevent the disclosure of individuals, DPA data relating to client numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5. Any figures less than 5 or monetary values of less than £10,000 have been suppressed and displayed as [c]. All other monetary values will be rounded to the nearest £10,000 in the data tables and CSV file. Any missing data is displayed as [x], in accordance with Government Statistical Service guidelines on best practice for accessible spreadsheets. Proportions (percentages) are calculated on the unrounded figures.

Data quality: 2024 to 2025

This section provides information on the known data quality issues within the 2024 to 2025 DPA report and accompanying data, to allow the reader and users of the data to understand any limitations of the data. This document should be used in conjunction with the publication’s data quality summary tables, main publication report findings and associated data files.

Missing data

Returns were submitted by 150 of 153 local authorities. Ealing, Surrey and West Northamptonshire did not submit DPA data to the Strategic Data Collection Service in an accepted format during the 2024 to 2025 collection window. The detailed data tables display Ealing, Surrey and West Northamptonshire data as [x], denoting missing data.

To present England level statistics that can be compared to previous years, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) added 2023 to 2024 data for these local authorities to 2024 to 2025 regional and national totals. Estimates are presented in the statistical commentary and all other detailed data tables and charts at regional and national level.

For those local authorities that made a submission, 100% of mandatory cells were completed.

Data quality issues

Inconsistencies within the 2024 to 2025 data collection have been identified. Local authorities advised that 3,025 new DPAs had been agreed. This is the number used when referring to the total number of DPAs. When analysed by whether a top-up had been provided or not, the total was 3,010. When split by the reason for the request, the total was 2,945. This may occur when local authorities only have access to aggregate information with no further detail. These values are still informative due to the additional detail provided however users should be aware of the slight discrepancy with overall numbers reported.

Using inbuilt validation checks within the data templates and post-submission data quality reports for each data collection, DHSC looks to identify logical inconsistencies in the data or where the data submitted is an outlier against local and national data. Local authorities can then review and resubmit data ahead of the deadline or provide explanations for any identified issues. DHSC works with local authorities and other stakeholders to ensure that the data template and the accompanying guidance document are clear to understand.

DHSC will continue to work with local authorities to enhance and improve the completeness and quality of the publication. Further details can be found in the supporting data quality outputs.

Comparison to previous years

Caution is recommended when making year on year comparisons. For example, see table 1, which shows a discrepancy in the number of outstanding DPAs when considering the data collected against that submitted last year (rounded to the nearest 5).

Table 1: calculation of number of outstanding DPAs

Description	Count
Reported number of outstanding DPAs as of 31 March 2024	6,815
Reported new DPAs in 2024 to 2025	3,025
Reported number of DPAs which ended in 2024 to 2025	3,015
Calculated number of outstanding DPAs as of 31 March 2025	6,825
Reported number of outstanding DPAs as of 31 March 2025	7,425
Discrepancy between reported and calculated outstanding DPAs	600

The calculated number of outstanding DPAs as of 31 March 2025 is 6,825, but the number reported in the 2024 to 2025 publication is 7,425 - a difference of 600 DPAs.

The difference between calculated and reported numbers was 300 in 2022 to 2023, 445 in 2023 to 2024 and this year it has increased to 600. There were also instances of data recording issues with DPAs incorrectly left open, or incorrect recording of DPA status. Further details can be found in the supporting data quality outputs.

Statistical quality

This section contains a background statistical quality report. For more specific information about the quality of the latest year’s data, see the ‘Data quality: 2024 to 2025’ section.

This statistical quality statement aims to provide users with an evidence-based assessment of the quality of the statistical outputs from the DPA data collection return, reporting against the 9 European Statistical System (ESS) quality dimensions. These outputs are published as official statistics.

Relevance

The report covers the number of and monetary value of DPAs for local authorities in England.

The data is used by central government and by local authorities to assess their performance in relation to their peers. It is also available for use by researchers looking at local authority performance and by clients and the public to hold local authorities and government to account.

Accuracy and reliability

The accuracy of the DPA data is the responsibility of the local authorities who submit the data to DHSC. The return is an aggregate data collection taken from administrative systems. As DHSC does not have access to the individual records behind the aggregate counts, we are reliant on local authorities to assess their own data quality.

In many instances, assessing reliability depends on local knowledge, as each local authority determines the approach taken in their area; what may be an anomaly in one area could be considered standard practice elsewhere. However, a range of activities are undertaken (outlined in more detail below) to check and improve quality.

The submission and validation process for each data collection is carried out as follows:

1. The local authority collates the data for submission in the relevant collection form. This form includes inbuilt validations to allow councils to check their data for common issues prior to submission.
2. The local authority submits data by the mandated deadline.
3. All local authorities who met the deadline receive a data quality report covering critical validations and also providing some derived totals allowing councils to confirm their data is correct.
4. DHSC reviews the quality of all files submitted and may provide additional support to local authorities with significant data quality issues.
5. Local authorities are able to resubmit data to amend any identified quality issues.
6. Final deadline for submission.
7. Following the final deadline DHSC will carry out analysis of the quality of the submissions. Although local authorities cannot resubmit data after this point, they may be contacted for additional clarification or context.

The validation checks carried out throughout this process include:

• checks for missing data items
• checks for instances of recorded activity without associated expenditure and vice versa
• validations across worksheets to check figures across different tables store the same figures. For example, for DPA003 table 3a the number of new requests where a DPA was approved should match the number of new DPAs recorded in DPA001

The final validations consisted of looking at the responses to the validation checks mentioned above to see if there are clear instances where data is implausible or local authorities have submitted data not in line with the guidance for the data collection. Local authorities are then contacted where necessary.

Information on the number of local authorities returning data by the mandated deadline and by the final deadline is available on the completeness tab of the data quality summary tables. These summary tables also include information provided by local authorities for any validation breaches.

Timeliness and punctuality

The DPA data collection is undertaken annually and published each year.

This publication has been released in line with the pre-announced publication date and is therefore deemed to be punctual.

Accessibility and clarity

This publication is available in HTML format, to meet the Government Accessibility Standard. Data tables are available to download from the DHSC website in Excel (.xlsx) format and a machine-readable comma-separated values (.csv) file allows the reader access to the underlying data.

The publication includes many of the Government Statistical Service recommendations on improving accessibility of spreadsheets for users with disabilities. This guidance aims to help producers of government statistics and analysis meet the UK accessibility regulations for public sector websites.

A list of the data items collected together with their definitions can be found in the guidance notes for the data collection and in the adult social care data dictionary.

Coherence and comparability

This is a statutory data collection to collect DPA information across England; there are no current alternative sources of this data with which these can be compared.

The DPA data collection was newly introduced in 2015 to 2016 on a voluntary basis. In 2016 to 2017 the data collection was part mandatory and became fully mandatory in 2017 to 2018. Therefore, care must be taken when comparing DPA data across years.

In comparison to the last collected data, there are no changes to this year’s data collections.

Trade-offs between output quality components

For the 2024 to 2025 reporting period, 2 submission periods were made available for local authorities. This was consistent with last year’s return. Data quality reports and support were made available to those local authorities who submitted by the first (mandated) deadline. Local authorities were able to make updates to their first cut of data before the second (final) deadline.

Assessment of user needs and perceptions

User feedback on the format and content of the DPA report is invited. If you would like to make any comments, see the ‘Contact’ section below for information.

Performance, cost and respondent burden

The data collection process used in this publication is subject to assurance by the Data Alliance Partnership Board. This is to ensure that data collections do not duplicate other collections, minimise the burden to all parties and have a specific use for the data collected.

The burden of the DPA data collection used in this report has been assessed and approved. The burden of any changes to the data collection are similarly assessed, to ensure that they do not create undue burden for local authorities.

Confidentiality, transparency and security

All statistics are subject to a standard risk assessment prior to issue. The risk assessment considers the sensitivity of the data and whether any of the reporting products may disclose information about specific individuals. Methods of disclosure control are discussed, and the most appropriate methods implemented. As a result of this process, DPA data has been rounded and small values have been suppressed. See the ‘Statistical disclosure control methods’ section for more information.

DHSC aims to be transparent in all its activities. A description of the data collection process and any issues with the quality of the 2024 to 2025 DPA data are documented in the ‘Data quality: 2024 to 2025’ section in this document.

DPA data is submitted through a secure electronic file transfer system called SDCS (Strategic Data Collection Service). The submitted files are transferred from SDCS and stored on a secure network with restricted access folders.

See the statistical compliance policies, the freedom of information process, and Privacy and data protection for more information on related statistical quality policies.

Contact

We’d like feedback from our users about how you use our products, how well these products meet your needs and how they could be improved.

For feedback and any further questions, contact asc.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.