Building on 15 years' worth of insight and analysis, this sector survey led by Cordis Bright seeks to better understand the resilience of social care providers, the impact of government policy, and the challenges social care organisations and housing associations are facing.
The results provide essential insight and evidence on the impact of government policy on social care and housing provision.
The full presentation brings together the results of a survey of 60 social care organisations with a combined turnover of £2.7bn.
Key Findings
- Amongst the biggest concerns facing the sector is poor management of commissioning by the statutory sector, unfunded increases in the dependency of clients and re-tendering or re-configuration of existing contracts.
- A new concern this year is the change in political leadership since the local elections, which is already causing significant concern.
- Of the actions organisations said they might take, 51% had exited contracts which were not providing sufficient margin, 49% of respondents had closed down services which operate at a deficit and 22% make a deficit equivalent to at least 5% of income. On the latter, between 2013-2019 on average 14% reported a deficit, while between 2020-2026 the average is 30% reporting a deficit.
- Drivers for action include chronic underfunding, workforce cost pressures including ENICs increases and instability and uncertainty about the future.
- On workforce... the key concerns notes were retention, recruitment and increases in employer National Insurance Contributions (eNICs) which amounted to an additional cost of between 2-10% leading to limited hiring, restructuring and reduced staffing levels.
- On the Fair Pay Agreement... there is little confidence that the costs of the FPA will be adequately met by local authorities and it's seen as a driver for further cost pressure across all salaries. More positively, the FPA could be helpful if set at or above Real Living Wage on recruitment and retention.
- On funding settlements... 2026 continues the trend of poor uplifts over the last four years. 43% of respondents reported being asked by commissioners to fund short falls in funding through the use of reserves, fundraising or other means negotiated outside fees. There is also implicit (and explicit) expectations by commissioners that social care providers can supplement statutory funding, reduce central/overhead costs further and cross-subsidise from private fee payers (which many VCFSE providers do not have). This leads to a constant pattern of underfunding, creating financial pressures and long-term risk to service viability and equity.
- On the Care Quality Commission (CQC)... When asked what the CQC should focus on, respondents favoured re-inspecting services were rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate, inspecting services which have not been visited in five years or more a d introducing a more nuanced and descriptive rating system. There was concern over how inspectors behave and how the CQC responds to concerns.
- On Casey... confidence in the commission to make a difference has slightly waned, but this was before the new Prime minister's steer to Baroness Casey to more explicitly focus on what's needed for a national care service and the launch of the Big Conversation on Care.