05 Oct 2026
Rising social care demand is placing growing pressure on council finances and the wider services communities depend on.
Official Government figures show that English councils spent £27.4 billion on adult social care in 2025–26. This was a real-terms increase of £1.3 billion, or 4.9%, in one year.
Children’s social care spending also increased by £759 million in real terms, reaching £16.9 billion.
Research from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services found that councils overspent their adult social care budgets by £715 million during 2025–26. More than 400,000 people were waiting for an assessment, care or support to begin, a direct payment or a review.
When councils must direct more funding towards urgent statutory responsibilities, less is available for prevention and other services such as roads, libraries, public transport and community support.
Government Plans A National Care Service
The Government has announced plans to establish a National Care Service during the next Parliament.
The proposed service would provide free personal care for older people, based on need rather than ability to pay.
Baroness Louise Casey’s independent commission will recommend how it should be delivered, with its report expected in summer 2027.
The Local Government Association has welcomed the commitment while warning that councils face an additional £5.8 billion in adult social care pressures between 2025–26 and 2028–29.
Rural Delivery Costs Must Be Recognised
Social care cannot be delivered in exactly the same way everywhere. Rural councils and providers serve smaller populations across much larger areas.
Care workers spend more time travelling between appointments, while limited transport and a shortage of affordable housing make recruitment and retention more difficult.
Rural care markets also tend to have fewer providers. The loss of one service can leave residents with few alternatives and destabilise provision across a wide area.
These additional costs can be missed by funding models based mainly on population numbers.
The evidence reinforces one of the Rural Services Network’s six priorities for Government: making fair funding truly fair.
Rural residents pay, on average, 17% more per head in council tax than their urban counterparts, while their councils receive less government-funded spending power.
Fair funding is not about special treatment. It means recognising what comparable services genuinely cost to deliver in different places.
Long-term reform is essential, but councils also need support now.
Without it, rising care costs will continue to affect all the local services on which rural communities depend.
