Local authority financial resilience
A Commons Library briefing on the financial resilience of local authorities.

An overview of the funding local authorities receive to provide adult social care services in England
Adult social care funding in England (603 KB , PDF)
In 2023/24, local authorities in England spent £23.3 billion on adult social care (net current expenditure). This represents the biggest area of council spending after education.
Several factors contribute to funding pressures on adult social care, including:
In addition, at the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced changes to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) from April 2025, including an increase in the employer NICs rate from 13.8% to 15%. The Nuffield Trust has estimated this will cost independent social care employers around £940 million in 2025/26, although there is some uncertainty around this estimate.
There is no national government budget for adult social care in England; most publicly funded social care is financed through local government revenue. Over recent years, the local government finance settlement has included an increasing amount of ring-fenced funding for adult social care.
Significant additional funding was made available for adult social care in 2023/24 and 2024/25, a substantial part of which came from redirecting funding originally intended for social care reform to support current provision.
The local government finance settlement 2025/26 confirmed the following funding for adult social care:
The settlement also includes £515 million of funding for councils to support with the costs associated with the increase in employer NICs across all service areas.
While stakeholders welcomed the additional funding announced for adult social care in 2025/26, concerns were raised that it would be absorbed by the increases in the National Living Wage and increases to employer NICs. The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has suggested there “remains a funding gap of over £1bn for adult social care to even stand still next year.”
The King’s Fund stated that successive governments had failed to fully fund increases in the National Living Wage and this had ultimately led to “fewer people accessing publicly funded long-term care as local authorities try to balance their books”. It said this trend was broken in 2023/24 due to “a significant increase in local authority spending power”, but warned it could return unless the government fully reimburses additional costs faced by providers.
The government has said it “considered the cost pressures facing adult social care” as part its wider consideration of local government spending.
Adult social care funding in England (603 KB , PDF)
A Commons Library briefing on the financial resilience of local authorities.
There will be a Westminster Hall debate on the future of public libraries at 9:30am on 14 May 2025. The debate will be opened by Jonathan Davies MP.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill 2024-25 is scheduled to have its report stage in the House of Commons on 16 May 2025.