The Care Operator — Edition #10

Good morning. Here's what matters this week and what to do about it.

Last Tuesday the Chancellor delivered her Spring Statement. Defence got the headline. The NHS got a mention. Social care got nothing. No new money, no announcement, no acknowledgement of the cost pressures the sector has been shouting about for months.

Care England called it out directly: the statement "offered little reassurance for adult social care providers" and failed to address mounting pressures. Skills for Care data shows sector pay is actually decreasing in real terms due to dwindling funding for care packages. The workforce reform and apprenticeship announcements could help long-term, but Care England's position is clear — social care's pressures are immediate.

The OBR's economic outlook, published alongside the statement, adds context. GDP growth for 2026 has been revised down from 1.4% to 1.1%. Inflation is expected to fall towards the Bank of England's 2% target by late 2026. Public sector net debt remains at roughly 95% of GDP. And buried in the numbers: housing and social care combined now account for around 30% of local authority spending in England, up from 20% in 2015/16.

Why this matters. The government has committed to one fiscal event per year — the autumn Budget. The Spring Statement was never going to contain major policy announcements. But the silence on social care, three weeks before the biggest funding changes in a decade take effect, is a signal. The sector is expected to absorb the April changes — grant consolidation, ring-fence removal, funding redistribution — with no additional transitional support. If you were hoping for a last-minute intervention before 1 April, it isn't coming.

What to do. Focus entirely on your local authority. That's where every funding decision that affects your fees will now be made. If you haven't already had a conversation with your commissioner about 2026/27 fee rates, this is your last window before the new financial year starts.

From 6 April, several changes hit simultaneously. Some you'll know about. Some you might not have fully costed.

Statutory Sick Pay reforms. SSP becomes payable from day one of sickness, replacing the current three-day waiting period. The lower earnings limit is abolished, bringing an estimated 1.3 million previously excluded low-paid and part-time workers into eligibility. The rate rises to £123.25 per week, or 80% of average weekly earnings for lower earners — whichever is lower. The government estimates this will cost employers around £450 million per year collectively, roughly £15 per employee.

For social care providers, the impact is sharper than the average. The sector has higher sickness absence rates than most industries. Many care workers are on part-time or variable-hours contracts and would previously have fallen below the earnings threshold. Day-one SSP means every single-day absence now has a direct payroll cost. If your sickness absence policy still references waiting days or earnings thresholds, it needs updating before April.

National Living Wage. Already in effect from April 2025 at £12.21 per hour, with the next increase expected in April 2026 (details to be confirmed at the autumn Budget). If your council hasn't confirmed fee uplifts that cover NLW plus employer NIC changes plus the SSP expansion, your margins are being squeezed from three directions simultaneously.

Grant consolidation. As we covered in Wednesday's deep dive, the MSIF, Social Care Grant, and DoLS funding all disappear into the unringfenced Revenue Support Grant from 1 April. Your council's notional allocation for adult social care should now be visible. If it isn't, or if you haven't seen it, ask.

What to do. Run the numbers this week. Calculate what day-one SSP costs you based on your actual absence data. Check your payroll system can handle the new dual-rate calculation. Update your sickness absence policy to remove references to waiting days. Then add SSP, NLW, and employer NIC costs to your cost-of-care submission — because if your council's fee uplift doesn't cover these mandatory cost increases, your margin shrinks on day one of the new financial year.

CQC confirmed last week that all 153 on-site local authority assessments are done. Final reports will publish by early summer. The baselining phase is officially over. From April, CQC moves into its next phase: ongoing regulatory assessments of councils.

What's emerging is a shift in method. CQC is considering introducing "assurance meetings" with local authorities — a lighter-touch ongoing monitoring model that would sit alongside formal assessments. The regulator will continue with self-assessments, information returns, site visits, and published reports, but with more flexibility in how and when it intervenes. Re-assessments will likely run on a three-to-four-year cycle, with risk-based triggers for earlier intervention.

ADASS is working with CQC to address concerns raised during the first round — including the time burden on council staff, marginal scoring differences between Good and Requires Improvement, and questions about factual accuracy in reports.

Why this matters. The CQC local authority assessments are the only external accountability mechanism for how councils commission and oversee care. With grant ring-fences being removed and notional allocations replacing enforceable spending conditions, the quality of CQC's ongoing oversight of councils matters more than ever. A council rated Requires Improvement on market shaping or commissioning practice is a council where providers need to be more vigilant about their fees, contract terms, and market position.

What to do. Read your council's CQC assessment report if you haven't already. Every published report is on the CQC website. Look specifically at the scores for "care provision, integration and continuity" and "partnerships and communities" — these are the quality statements most directly relevant to how your council commissions services and supports providers.

Wednesday 19 March — the Health and Social Care Committee holds its final evidence session on the cost of inaction on adult social care reform. The committee has already heard from ADASS, the LGA, NHS representatives, and lived experience witnesses. This final session will close the evidence gathering before the committee writes its report. That report will be the most significant parliamentary statement on social care funding and reform since the Dilnot Commission.

Friday 21 March — the same committee launches a new inquiry on "the first 1,000 days of life" (conception to age two). This isn't directly about adult social care, but it signals the committee's broader interest in prevention and early intervention — themes that will increasingly shape how social care funding is justified.

What to do. If you can, watch the 19 March session (it will be available on parliamentlive.tv). The arguments made there will surface in the committee's final report, which will be the strongest evidence base available for anyone making the case for better social care funding — whether to a local authority, an ICB, or an MP.

Dudley MBC — Supported Living Framework. Still live. Two lots: long-term care and support, and short-term intensive intervention. Deadline: 31 March 2026. If you haven't started your submission, now is the time.

Also still open: BCP Council outcomes-focused homecare framework, Bradford day services, Sandwell community dementia service PME, Herefordshire home care market engagement.

Cost your April changes. Take your current payroll data. Calculate what day-one SSP would have cost you over the last twelve months based on actual absence patterns. Add the employer NIC increase. Add any NLW impact you haven't yet absorbed. That total is your cost pressure for 2026/27. If your council's fee uplift doesn't cover it, you now have a documented, evidence-based case to take to your commissioner — and you have three weeks to make it.

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— The Care Operator