Threads / Adult Social Care Reform / Adult social care priorities for local authorities
Policy Paper Published 21 Jan 2026 Department of Health and Social Care ↗ View on GOV.UK

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.

▤ Verbatim text from source document

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